Caregivers looking to find the education requirements in their state of residence for becoming a professional caregiver must first understand their state health departments mandates for licensing and training.
Senior caregiving in the home delivers professional care services but also risks. For this reason, states have begun passing legislation to regulate the industry and require minimum standards for senior care companies through licensing and training of their caregiving staff. Online caregiver training can be obtained for most states now.
Caregiver education components include basic caregiving skills and then some states build upon these skills. The state of Washington, for instance, provides for Medicaid caregiving services in the home paid for by state tax dollars (only very low-income seniors with few assets qualify for this benefit). The SEIU (service employee union) decided it would be really cool if they received payment from the state for the hours that they spend training caregivers and received approval through legislation to require 75 hours of training for professional caregivers. Most seniors cannot afford to pay for 75 hours of training at an hourly pay rate of 20 dollars per hour (with payroll taxes). Because of this, senior care companies in Washington state usually hire Certified Nursing Aides who already have training or caregivers who received training paid for by Medicaid.
New Jersey caregivers also must have more than 70 hours of training to be a certified home health aide.
Caregiver education requirements in most states will be from 8 to 12 hours for the first year, followed by renewal training annually (every year you are working as a caregiver).
Certified Caregiver Training
Online caregiver training has been approved for educating caregivers on the basic skills and can be obtained through the industry’s only digital training created by senior home care industry professionals at Caregiverlist.com
