Today’s contemporary office looks very different than it did ten or twenty years ago, and technological progress has introduced a variety of tools and resources to help businesses run more efficiently and save time, money, and effort, including software applications.

Businesses need office administrators to help keep everyday operations running smoothly, and computerized software can be an invaluable help to organizing, managing, and maintaining the information and data you would be expected to work with. Although there is a large amount of variety when it comes to available software, there are a few popular applications you may encounter throughout your career.

If you’re interested in discovering what software you can expect to use in a career as an office administrator, read on to find out more.

Familiarity with Microsoft Office Can Help You Handle Everyday Tasks

When it comes to business, Microsoft Office is, of course, a useful tool for any professional to have. Along with their standard programs, Microsoft also offers other features such as email and various applications for business-related tasks, and knowing how to use some of the world’s most widely-used software can help you find career success no matter where you work when you become an office administrator.

Microsoft Office is a crucial tool for any office administrator, and it helps you maintain communication, focus on productivity, and use easily-accessible programs to complete your daily tasks. From MS Word to Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and more, your office administration courses can help you stay updated on relevant computer software and keep your technological skills current for today’s business world.

Sage 50 Accounting Software Helps Centralize Crucial Financial Information

Formerly known in Canada as Simply Accounting, Sage 50 is accounting software that is used by a variety of businesses to manage and organize their financial resources into one centralized location.

Accounting is a vital process for any company to stay in business, but it can be difficult to keep track of all of the different kinds of information at once. When you work in office administration, you’ll be responsible for handling tasks that involve bookkeeping, and office administration training can help familiarize you with the common software you may encounter. From tracking expenses to making sure a business is operating within their budget and even organizing important data like invoices, credits, and returns, Sage 50 software is a useful tool you can use to simplify the everyday bookkeeping tasks you’ll be working with, and help you succeed as an office administrator.

QuickBooks is an Important Tool to Use When You Become an Office Administrator

Businesses of different types and sizes have many options when it comes to accounting software. One software, known as QuickBooks Pro, can be particularly useful, especially if you’re working in a small business.

QuickBooks Pro can help office administrators manage sales and expenses, as well as keep track of daily transactions. Similarly to Sage 50, you can use QuickBooks Pro to complete many important bookkeeping tasks such as creating invoices to keep better track of individual sales, and ensure that your billing process is on-schedule.

Software like QuickBooks Pro also allows you to gain insights into how a business is performing by allowing you to efficiently monitor and manage profit inflow and outflow activities through specialized reports. These reports can range from Profit and Loss Report to Balance Sheet Report and Statement of Cash Flows, but each offers a valuable analysis and look at the state of any business, and you can use it to your advantage during your career to keep better tabs on your bookkeeping as well as your office’s overall performance.

Are you interested in taking the next step towards a rewarding career in office administration?

Contact KLC College for more information about starting a business administration course.

Working with children and youth in need can be a greatly rewarding profession. The demands of the job, however, mean that it takes a person who has the right skills and personality to succeed.

During your career as a child and youth worker, you will meet and work with children and youth who may be facing social, emotional, or behavioural challenges. Your training can prepare you with the knowledge and skills you need to provide support and guidance, and your personality can also benefit you just as much as the things you will learn in the classroom.

If you’re interested in becoming a child and youth worker, read on to find out if you have the right qualities that can help you succeed in this profession.

1. Patience is Important When You Become a Child and Youth Worker

Children and youth are in a crucial stage of development, and are still learning how to interact and process the world around them, as well as their own personhood.

It can be frustrating to repeat yourself, explain things multiple times, or handle classroom distractions, but patience can help you provide a more supportive environment that helps the children you work with grow in a healthy way. Children also learn by example from the adults around them and being patient can teach them the right way to approach a potentially frustrating situation.

2. Child and Youth Workers Know that Good Communication Helps Build Trust

A common mistake that many adults make is simplifying their vocabulary or grammar to match what they believe children can understand.

Children and adolescents are actually far more capable of communicating with themselves and others than some may think. The children you work with when you become a child and youth worker may have a difficult time learning to trust others, but having a natural talent for communication and treating them as an equal during a conversation can help you build a mutual relationship of trust and respect.

3. Flexibility is Key When Working with Children and Youth in Need

Every child or adolescent that you work with has different needs, perspectives, and history. This means that your approach can change depending on the individual you’re helping, which makes flexibility and adaptability an important characteristic for aspiring child and youth workers.

Being willing to change to meet each individual’s personal needs is a crucial part of succeeding in your career, and a child and youth worker training course can teach you the different learning theories and strategies that you can use to find the best solution for the specific child you’re working with.

4. Looking on the Bright Side Can Help You Succeed as a Child and Youth Worker

A career as a child and youth worker means you may often work with children and adolescents who are dealing with serious situations in their lives, and having a naturally positive, optimistic attitude can help them feel less overwhelmed by the problems they’re facing.

Optimism doesn’t have to come in the form of grand gestures to help the children you work with. Recognizing the importance of small accomplishments and breakthroughs can draw their attention to the real change they’re making, and give them the positive affirmation and motivation they can rely on to continue forward.

Do you think a career as a child youth worker might be right for you?

Contact KLC College for more information about child youth worker training.

Internships are often referred to as long interviews since they can sometimes lead to actual job offers. Even those that don’t turn into permanent jobs, however, still provide interns an excellent opportunity to gain on-the-job experience, which employers highly value.

Students of KLC College who successfully complete their accounting clerk and bookkeeping courses complete a 100-hour internship. Here’s how to stand out during your internship so that you can give your career a head start.

Do Your Research and Treat Your Internship Like a Real Job from Day One

While your internship may be unpaid, you should still be treating it like a real job. After all, your performance is likely being evaluated and it could have a real impact on your future career prospects. You can show your supervisors you’re serious about the role by researching the company beforehand, including how large it is, how long it has been around for, and what it does. With this research, you’ll come across as better prepared for the position and you’ll feel more comfortable in your new surroundings.

Another great way to show that you are taking your internship seriously is by dressing professionally. Even if the dress code says that jeans and a T-shirt are acceptable for interns, it rarely hurts to choose a more professional look. Dressing the part of a professional will help you feel more confident while also helping you stand out as somebody who could potentially be considered for a future hire.

Volunteer for Projects That Put Your Accounting Clerk Training to Use

Your internship is your chance to apply what you learned during your accounting clerk training to the real world. To get the most out of your internship, you should volunteer for opportunities that align with your training. For example, during your training you’ll learn how to use a number of software programs, like Simply Accounting and QuickBooks Pro. If you see a chance to put these skills to use in the office, then volunteer to do so. You’ll gain valuable experience and you’ll be showing your supervisors that you have job-ready skills.

However, when volunteering for new tasks, it’s important to only take on what you can handle. Showing your supervisors that you can follow guidelines and do a job well is better than trying to finish as many tasks as possible without regard to quality.

Build Up Your Network by Introducing Yourself to Everyone in the Office

When it comes to career advancement, who you know is often just as important as what you know. In fact, one LinkedIn survey found that 80 per cent of professionals consider networking to be important for success in their careers. Your internship following career college is a great opportunity to build a professional network.

Start by introducing yourself to everyone in the office. Getting to know your coworkers helps you establish connections that could potentially lead to opportunities. Many of your coworkers may go onto careers at other companies. If you make a memorable impression today, they could keep you in mind for openings at those companies in the future. Furthermore, by taking an interest in your coworkers, you’re proving that you’re part of a team.

Are you ready for a new career?

Contact KLC College today to learn more about our accounting clerk course.

Medical office administrators play an essential role within health care teams, making sure that the administrative side of clinics and hospitals run smoothly so that patients can reliably receive the care and services they need.
In doing so, they draw on a broad range of skills and competencies – including a general knowledge of medical terminology. For some, learning complex and unfamiliar terms like xerosis, epistaxis, and fasciculation can seem challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right methods and some practice, anyone can master the vocabulary of the medical field.

If you’re interested in training for a rewarding office administration career in a clinic, hospital, or government health agency, here are some helpful tips you can use to memorize medical terminology.

1. Knowing the Roots Will Help When You Become a Medical Office Administrator

Many medical terms are derived from Greek and Latin roots. Although medical terminology can sometimes seem complicated, becoming familiar with these basic roots can help make it easier to understand and easier to memorize. By knowing the roots of a word, you can also guess the approximate meaning of unfamiliar terms, by looking at which roots have been combined to create them.

Take the medical term hepatitis, for example. Hepatitis is formed from the combination of two roots: hepato, which refers to the liver, and itis, which is Latin for inflammation. By familiarizing yourself with these roots, you can guess approximately what the term refers to – an inflammation of the liver – and more easily understand and remember related terms, such as hepatic artery (the artery that supplies blood to the liver) and dermatitis (inflammation of the skin).

2. Flashcards Can be a Great Way to Learn New Vocabulary

Another great way to learn the vocabulary you’ll need when you become a medical office administrator is through the use of flash cards. If you’re not familiar with the flashcard method of memorization, it generally involves using index cards, with a term written on one side and its definition on the other. You can then either flip through terms, guessing at the correct definition, or flip through definitions, guessing at the correct term, always checking your answers as you go. This method can be very effective for learning full medical terms or common roots, as it provides instant feedback and can be done anywhere. With new dedicated mobile apps, you can even practice with flashcards on your phone.

3. Experiment with Different Methods to Learn What Works Best For You

It’s useful to remember that each person has a different learning style, and one of the best things you can do when memorizing new medical terminology during medical office administration training is to find the specific method that works best for how you learn.

Auditory learners, for example, learn best by using sound. If this describes you, then you might consider recording yourself sounding out vocabulary so you can listen back to it throughout the day, or creating tunes or jingles to help remember unfamiliar words. If you’re a visual learner, on the other hand, coming up with memorable mental images to associate with each new word might work better.

If you experiment with different methods, you’ll eventually find which ones work best for you. After that, it’s just a matter of practice!

Are you ready for a new career in the medical field?

Contact KLC College today to learn more about our career training in medical office administration.

Ensuring clients stay hydrated is one of the many important duties that personal support workers (PSWs) are responsible for. Hydration is especially vital when caring for seniors because many seniors are more susceptible to dehydration. For example, some may have decreased sensitivity to feeling thirsty, some may have reduced kidney function, and others may be taking medications that can cause dehydration.

Once you become a PSW, you will need to come up with ways of ensuring your senior clients get their necessary fluid intake. Here’s a look at what you should know about keeping senior clients hydrated after your PSW training.

Grads of PSW Training Programs Should Watch for Signs of Dehydration in Seniors

As a PSW, you will need to be able to recognize the signs of dehydration so that you can prevent it from happening in the first place. Mild dehydration in seniors can present as dry mouth, headaches, decreased urination, thirst, dry skin, sleepiness, irritability, or feeling unwell. In more serious cases, seniors may experience fainting, a quick—but weak—heartbeat, low blood pressure, severe cramping, lack of sweat or tears, and rapid breathing.

If dehydration becomes chronic or goes unaddressed, it can cause extremely serious health conditions, like kidney failure, seizures, swelling in the brain, and coma. Keeping your clients well hydrated when you work as a PSW should be high on your list of priorities, since the consequences of dehydration can be quite serious.

Use the Skills Gained in PSW Training to Help Senior Clients Stay Hydrated

In your PSW training program, you will learn about hydration, and you can put that knowledge to use towards helping your older clients stay hydrated. Getting your clients to drink more water is the simplest and most obvious way of ensuring they consume enough fluids. Some of your clients may have mobility issues which can prevent them from getting their own water. In such a case, you may want to ensure that they always have a glass of water within reach. Some seniors have a less acute sense of thirst, don’t rely on your clients to tell you when they’re thirsty. Instead, make sure they always have adequate access to fluids.

Think of Creative Ways of Ensuring Your Clients Drink Enough Fluids

Some seniors may refuse to drink water, such as if they are battling a serious medical condition like Alzheimer’s disease. In such a case, you will need to find ways of coaxing them into consuming more fluids. Not all fluids need to come from water. If your client doesn’t enjoy water itself, try alternative sources of fluids that they may prefer. Your client may be able to meet their daily fluid intake requirements by drinking fruit juices, teas, and sweetened beverages, for example. Many fruits and vegetables also have high water content.

During your PSW classes, you will learn about the various health conditions that your clients could have. While it’s important to ensure they are drinking enough fluids in any form they can, you will also want to be mindful of any health conditions that could make some foods and beverages unsuitable for your clients. For example, foods or liquids that have high sugar content may be inappropriate for somebody with diabetes, while drinks high in sodium should not be given to clients with high blood pressure.

Are you ready to pursue a new career?

Contact KLC College to learn about our personal support worker college program.

Physiotherapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) play an important role in a client’s physical rehabilitation – the ultimate goal is to help them improve their physical capabilities as well as their overall confidence. As a physiotherapy assistant, you may meet with some clients who aren’t familiar with exactly what a PT or OT does, and may be nervous about starting a physical therapy session.

Whether you work in a private clinic, hospital, or home-care, you can help dispel some of the more common myths a client may be aware of, and make them feel more comfortable with the idea of physiotherapy as well as prepare them for their journey through PT or OT.

Read on to find out how your training can help you debunk some of these popular physiotherapy myths.

Myth #1: Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy are the Same Profession

Although both involve similar aspects and common goals, physiotherapy and occupational therapy are actually two separate career options.

While physiotherapy aims to improve a client’s strength, mobility, and range of motion, occupational therapy focuses on improving a client’s ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). They are simply two different steps of the healing process, where PT treats the actual impairment and OT helps clients process and integrate their impairment in a way that keeps them engaged, capable, and independent in their own daily life.

Myth #2: Occupational Therapists Are There to Help Clients Find a Job

While the word occupational is generally used in the context of a profession, you should tell clients it’s best to leave the resume at home.

In occupational therapy, the word is used to signify a common activity that a person is engaging in – this can be anything from standing to lifting to even buttoning a shirt. It’s used in the profession because occupational therapists are there to support clients in performing these daily activities, and re-learning how to do them independently, without assistance.

Myth #3: Grads of Physiotherapy Assistant Training Only Treat Injuries

The idea that therapy exists to treat injuries is common, but physiotherapists actually do much more than that. Physiotherapy assistant training includes important lessons on anatomy and physiology, so you can better understand how the body operates as a whole, including when it’s injured. An injury, in fact, doesn’t have to be necessary for PT or OT – some clients may simply be facing challenges as they grow older, and may need help improving their mobility or staying active.

Myth #4: A Physiotherapy Session Has to Involve Pain in Order to Work

Many clients may be worried that their physiotherapy will be painful. While pain is something that is associated with the injuries physiotherapy addresses, the treatment itself shouldn’t actually be painful.

As a PT or OT assistant, you should work within the comfort zones of your clients, so it’s a good idea to check in, ask questions, and encourage them to communicate during a session. The goal is always pain-free movement, and you should revise your techniques according to your training from an occupational therapy assistant program anytime a client experiences pain.

Myth #5: Students in Occupational Therapy Assistant Programs Focus on Exercise

Because of its focus on the movement of the body, some clients may assume that PT or OT may involve exercise. While it’s certainly a component than can help improve body movement as a whole, the amount of exercise can vary from client to client, depending on the nature of their injury or individual needs.

A client with a knee injury, for example, won’t need the same types of exercise as a client who has a shoulder strain. It’s important to remember that clients will have different problems that need different solutions, and exercise should be approached on a dynamic, one-on-one basis, not prescribed generally.

Are you interested in a hands-on career helping others?

Contact KLC College for more information about our physical therapy assistant training program.

Advances in medical technology and treatment means that more Canadians are able to live longer and enjoy a higher standard of care than in the past. While this progress is certainly good news, it also means that more Canadians will need caregivers who have the right training and qualifications to help them enjoy their golden years to the fullest extent possible.

The Gentle Persuasive Approach (GPA) is a unique, person-centred curriculum that was created in order to help personal support workers (PSWs) provide more effective care for clients affected by dementia or delirium. GPA explores and addresses the underlying behaviours influenced by dementia, as well as how to proactively respond to and manage these behaviours.

If you’re interested in becoming a personal support worker, read on to find out how GPA can help you in your future career!

A Person-Centred Model of Care Is Growing Among Personal Support Workers

There have been a few noticeable innovations arising in healthcare in recent years, including what’s known as a person or patient-centred model of care. This is an approach that emphasizes the personhood of each client, and takes their individual needs into account when planning and managing their care.

Person-centred care is at the heart of the Gentle Persuasive Approach because it helps PSWs better understand the individual motivations that influence the behaviour of each client. This can be useful when you have a client living with dementia, which manifests differently between each person and may necessitate more personalized care that fits specific needs, schedules, and preferences. In fact, this approach is so useful that more than 300,000 Canadians to date have enriched their caregiving skills with GPA training.

A Gentle Persuasive Approach Can Improve Positive Behaviour Management

Providing a supportive environment is important when you become a personal support worker because your client has just as much of a right to respect, safety, and comfort as anyone else. This can be complicated, however, when a client is living with dementia, because this disease often involves unpredictable or sudden changes in behaviour.

Students at KLC can use their training to create a supportive environment for their clients

GPA emphasizes the idea that each behavioural display has meaning behind it, and a majority of these can simply come from unmet needs. Describing behaviour as ‘aggressive’ or ‘challenging’ is unfair to the client, whose behaviour can often stem from complications of their disease. Their disease means they may not be able to fully access the standard methods of expressing their wants or needs, which can lead to frustrated or upset behaviour.

A Gentle Persuasive Approach promotes positive behavioural management techniques such as validation, collaboration, celebration, and accommodation, which encourages your clients to redirect their attention to positive aspects rather than negative ones.

Compassion Is Important When You Become a Personal Support Worker

GPA is featured in a personal support worker course because it emphasizes compassionate care. Although it may seem obvious, compassion can actually go a long way in your PSW career, including improving your work and your client’s quality of life.

Compassion can help PSWs better connect with and understand their clients

Compassion begins with understanding that the person is separate from the disease that affects them; having compassion for your clients means that you are able to sympathize with them, and want to help them in the best way possible. GPA teaches PSWs to ask themselves compassionate questions before they respond to client behaviour, such as whether or not the client may be hungry, tired, or thirsty, and are simply having trouble expressing it. The compassionate answer may in fact be the simplest one—a meal, a nap, a drink of water—and this kind of consideration can help relieve your client’s discomfort before it escalates into problem behaviour.

Do you want to find a PSW private college that can prepare you for a career in caregiving?

Contact KLC College for more information about our programs.

Among the topics you’ll cover if you study physiotherapy or occupational therapy assistant training are the fundamentals of neurological disorders. Neurological disorders are any condition that affects the nervous system, such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and multiple sclerosis, for example. These disorders can cause a wide range of challenges for patients, but physiotherapy and occupation therapy can help to improve their quality of life.

The training you’ll receive in physiotherapy and occupational therapy assistant courses can prepare you to work with clients with neurological disorders. Here are just a few of the ways you can make a difference.

Physiotherapy Helps Patients with Degenerative Diseases Preserve Functions

Recovery is not always a viable option for people with neurological disorders. Specifically, if a patient is battling a degenerative disorder, like Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or Alzheimer’s disease, then recovering lost functions may not be possible or realistic. Instead, the focus of physiotherapy is often on helping the patient preserve the movements and functions they still have and compensating for functions that have been lost.

For example, people with Parkinson’s may have trouble maintaining balance. A physiotherapist can devise a treatment plan for the patient that includes exercises which are designed to help patients learn how to maintain their sense of balance using their current abilities. Under the direction of the physiotherapist, you can use your physiotherapy assistant training to assist the patient through completing these balance exercises.

Help Stroke Victims Recover When You Become an Occupational Therapy Assistant

Strokes are very common, and currently, about 400,000 Canadians are living with long-term disability due to stroke. Stroke often leads to neurological disorders that require both physiotherapy and occupational therapy. The specific type of disorders vary widely from one stroke patient to another, but some common disorders include weakness on one side of the body, cognitive decline, and problems walking. These challenges can make performing daily activities a challenge.

Broadly speaking, physiotherapy focuses on helping stroke patients regain physical movement, while occupational therapy focuses on helping them participate in and complete activities. If you become an occupational therapy assistant, you can help stroke patients find ways to re-train or compensate for these lost activities. For example, many stroke victims have trouble with short-term memory, which can make daily tasks difficult. An occupational therapist will devise strategies that can help the patient compensate for these memory deficits, such as using memory aids like notice boards and wristbands. As an occupational therapy assistant, you will be able to help patients learn how to use these aids and report their progress back to the occupational therapist.

Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Can Help with Peripheral Neuropathy

Neurological conditions are not confined to just those that affect the brain. Instead, they are any condition that affects the nervous system. This includes the central nervous system, which is the brain and spinal cord, and the network of nerves located throughout the body called the peripheral nervous system. When the peripheral nervous system is damaged, it is called peripheral neuropathy, which can cause pain, numbness, loss of motor function, increased sensitivity, and many other issues. Peripheral neuropathy is especially common in patients with diabetes.

Physiotherapists may develop a range of exercises for patients with peripheral neuropathy that are designed to increase strength and improve motor functions. Physiotherapy assistants, under the supervision of the physiotherapist, help guide the patient through these exercises. Occupational therapy assistants, meanwhile, may—again under the supervision of the occupational therapist—teach patients how to overcome safety issues during daily tasks, like how to avoid falls while walking.

Are you interested in a fulfilling new career?

Contact KLC College to learn more about our occupational therapist assistant course.

Working in special education means providing a supportive classroom, and that includes organization. Organization is more than making sure paper and pens are put away and everything is in order before the next day – it can also help prepare you to meet the individual learning needs of your students and provide a more structured classroom environment.

Whether you want to provide students with visual aids or reduce potential distractions, there are a variety of organizational methods you and your fellow educators can use to help your students learn and participate in and around the classroom.

If you’re interested in starting a career as an educational assistant, read on to find out how your training can help you and your classroom become more organized.

1. Positive Student Behaviour Support Begins with Good Organization

Supporting positive behaviour in the classroom is an important part of your work when you become an educational assistant. Although there may be days when positive behaviour seems to be the last thing on your students’ minds, staying organized can actually help you keep your class on the right track.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have trouble understanding how they are expected to act in the classroom. An organized room with physically defined spaces can help them better separate each setting, and even anticipate what a certain activity in that space means. Encouraging a deeper understanding of the current activity or lesson can cultivate a more positive response in students as they learn how to interact with and prepare for the context of each separate space.

2. Organization in the Classroom Can Reduce Student Distractibility

Many special education learners can be easily distracted. Educational assistant training emphasizes the important role that behaviour management plays in the special education classroom, and that includes reducing any auditory or visual distractions.

General clutter and even walls crowded end to end with posters or information can be a distraction to students with ASD because all of the unorganized elements are competing at once for their attention. Reducing excessive visual input can help minimize the stimulus students receive from their classroom environment, so it’s a good idea to only include the most relevant visual materials on the walls or desks, and put all the extra materials or supplies neatly away out of sight.

3. Educational Assistant Training Can Help You Organize Individual Learning Styles

Individualized learning is a core element of your educational assistant program and your classroom. Children with special needs often learn in very different styles, and organization can help you ensure they are learning in the best way possible.

Organization in the classroom can be as simple as labelling items with words and even pictures. Labelling each student’s materials, assigned seat, or personal items can help them tell which objects are theirs, and encourage them to have a more independent perspective of these items, as well as how they relate to themselves as individuals. “David’s chair,” for example, tells everyone in the room – David included – that this is his personal space to use during class.

4. Use Your Educational Assistant Training to Provide Visual Organization

Special education learners often rely on visual cues to better understand their classroom environment, and it’s important to make sure everything is organized in a way that provides plenty visual support.

If you choose to label areas of the classroom, you can also include pictures to help students understand where things are supposed to go as well as what they look like. This kind of visual cue gives them easily-accessible information that helps make abstract concepts more concrete. Visual aids such as a schedule or first-then board can provide students with a sense of structure, and encourages them to follow multi-step directions in order to achieve something they want.

Are you interested in starting a rewarding career in the classroom?

Contact KLC College for more information about our educational assistant course.

Practising good nutrition can be difficult at any age, especially if appetite is compromised. Appetite is our body’s gateway to healthy living and nourishment, but it has a complex relationship with our bodies—it can be stimulated by our central nervous system to regulate our energy levels, and even by exterior factors such as our surroundings or meal schedules.

Our sense of appetite can change as we grow older, but maintaining proper nutrition is always important to help guard our personal well-being. For personal support workers (PSWs), good nutrition is a key component of making sure clients are healthy and happy, but a low or nonexistent appetite can sometimes make this goal seem like an uphill battle.

If you’re interested in becoming a PSW, read on to find out what you should know about stimulating your clients’ appetites.

PSWs Know that Loss of Appetite Is Common with Senior Clients

Our appetites are influenced by a complicated combination of factors inside—and out—of our bodies. As we age, our taste buds can dull, and food can begin to seem bland and unappetizing. Our appetites, like with our sense of taste, are similarly linked to our ability to smell and see; an impairment of these senses means our bodies can no longer access the same visual or olfactory cues to stimulate our appetite.

Medication also plays an important role in appetite. One of the most common side effects when taking medication—as well as a common issue for many seniors in general—is dehydration. Dehydration can lead to a decrease in appetite, sometimes simply because a client’s body is less sensitive to feelings of thirst. Medication can also lead to dry mouth and reduced saliva production, which can make chewing or swallowing difficult, so it’s always a good idea to make sure clients are properly hydrated.

These Simple Solutions Can Help PSWs Boost Their Clients’ Appetites

PSW classes introduce you to important concepts like nutrition, which help keep your clients healthy. Serving balanced, nutritional meals on a regular schedule establishes a consistent routine, which can help adjust your client’s body and mind to a set period of eating or drinking. You can also encourage healthy snacking throughout the day to keep their metabolic systems active between meals.

Retirement, reduced mobility, and health complications can mean a client may feel isolated or depressed, and view mealtimes as a chore rather than something to enjoy. If possible, try to suggest that your clients eat meals with others, which can make it a more social activity and give clients something to look forward to every day.

Think Outside the (Lunch) Box When You Become a Personal Support Worker

Sometimes when you feel like you’ve exhausted all your options, it’s best to get creative.

If your client has trouble swallowing or chewing, try to include blended drinks or smoothies in their menu. If they feel that mealtimes aren’t special, break out the nice tablecloths or make a meal you know they enjoy. It may be frustrating to work with a client who doesn’t have a strong appetite, but sometimes going the extra mile when you become a personal support worker can show them that someone cares, which encourages them to make an effort.

Some seniors may feel that they don’t have much control over what or when they eat. If possible, try to involve them or a loved one in their menu-planning, or ask them to help out if you need a hand in the kitchen—even something as simple as setting the table can make them feel more empowered and personally involved in the process, and thus more invested in their meals.

Are you interested in learning more about starting your career as a PSW?

Contact KLC College for more information about our personal support worker college program.