Health · Certificate · 35 weeks · Classroom + placement

Personal Support Worker (PSW)

Hands-on care training for clients in long-term care, home care, supportive housing, and palliative settings — graduate job-ready in under a year.

📚 3 modules📝 12 lessons🧪 12 labs📍 4 campuses

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What you'll learn

Core topics

Personal care & ADLsSafe transfers & mobilityInfection controlDementia carePalliative careNutrition & meal assistanceDocumentationCommunication

Study guide

Modules & lessons

Work top to bottom — every lesson has an objective, curated resources, a hands-on lab, and a self-check.

Module 1 · Foundations of Care Beginner 4 lessons ›

The PSW Role & Scope of Practice

🎯 Define what a PSW may and may not do.

PSWs assist with activities of daily living under the direction of a care plan and supervision of nurses — they are unregulated health workers in Ontario. Inside scope: bathing, dressing, feeding, mobility, observation and reporting. Outside scope: administering medications, sterile procedures, diagnosing. Knowing your scope protects clients and your career.

Resources: Ontario PSW resources (ontario.ca)NACC PSW program overview

🧪 Lab: Sort 12 tasks into 'in scope' / 'out of scope' for a PSW.

✍️ Self-check question

A nurse asks you to give a client their pills — what do you do and say?

Infection Prevention & Control

🎯 Apply hand hygiene and PPE correctly.

The chain of infection (agent → reservoir → exit → transmission → entry → host) breaks at hand hygiene: the 4 moments, 15–20 seconds, alcohol-based rub unless visibly soiled. PPE order matters — don gown, mask, goggles, gloves; doff gloves, goggles, gown, mask. Routine practices apply to EVERY client, not just known infections.

Resources: Public Health Ontario: hand hygienePIDAC routine practices guides

🧪 Lab: Demonstrate donning/doffing sequence and list the 4 moments of hand hygiene.

✍️ Self-check question

Why do routine practices apply even when a client seems healthy?

Body Mechanics & Safe Transfers

🎯 Move clients safely without injury.

Back injuries end care careers: wide base, bend hips/knees not the waist, load close to your body, pivot — never twist. Transfers follow the care plan: gait belt for standby assists, mechanical lifts for dependent clients, two-person rules where required. Always explain before you touch — consent and warning prevent falls.

Resources: Ontario MSD prevention resourcesWorkplace Safety & Insurance Board guides

🧪 Lab: Practise a gait-belt transfer from bed to wheelchair with a partner; narrate each step.

✍️ Self-check question

Name three transfer rules that protect YOUR back.

Communication & Professionalism

🎯 Communicate therapeutically with clients and the team.

Therapeutic communication: open questions, active listening, silence that allows response, and validation of feelings. With clients who have hearing or cognitive loss: face them, short sentences, one idea at a time. Professionalism = reliability, confidentiality (PHIPA), and reporting facts not opinions.

Resources: PHIPA overview (IPC Ontario)Therapeutic communication guides (RNAO)

🧪 Lab: Role-play responding to a client who says 'I am a burden to everyone'.

✍️ Self-check question

Give an example of a factual report vs an opinionated one.

Module 2 · Personal Care Skills Intermediate 4 lessons ›

Assisting with ADLs: Bathing, Dressing, Grooming

🎯 Provide dignified personal care.

Personal care is intimate — dignity is the skill: explain each step, keep the client covered, encourage whatever they can do themselves (promotes independence), and watch skin for redness or breakdown while you work. Bed baths follow clean-to-dirty order; perineal care is always front-to-back.

Resources: RNAO best practice guidelinesNACC PSW curriculum topics

🧪 Lab: Write a step sequence for a dignified bed bath including skin checks.

✍️ Self-check question

Why encourage a client to wash their own face even if it takes longer?

Nutrition, Feeding & Swallowing Safety

🎯 Assist meals safely, including dysphagia diets.

Nutrition support ranges from opening containers to full feeding. Swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) is dangerous: upright 90° position, small bites, slow pace, and only the prescribed texture (minced, puréed, thickened fluids). Report coughing, pocketing food, or wet voice immediately — aspiration pneumonia kills.

Resources: Dietitians of Canada: texturesIDDSI framework basics

🧪 Lab: Set up a safe meal tray for a client on a puréed diet with thickened fluids.

✍️ Self-check question

List four signs of swallowing difficulty you must report.

Toileting, Continence & Skin Integrity

🎯 Maintain continence care and prevent pressure injuries.

Continence care preserves dignity: scheduled toileting, prompt changing, barrier cream, and privacy. Pressure injuries develop in hours over bony points — reposition every 2 hours, keep skin dry, check heels/sacrum/hips, and report redness that does not fade in 30 minutes. Prevention is 95% of wound care.

Resources: RNAO: pressure injury preventionBraden scale overview

🧪 Lab: Make a 2-hour repositioning schedule for a bed-bound client.

✍️ Self-check question

What does non-blanchable redness over the sacrum indicate?

Mobility, Falls & Restraint-Free Care

🎯 Prevent falls and respond correctly.

Falls are the top incident in care: risk factors include medications, confusion, poor footwear, clutter, and urgency toileting. Prevention: clear paths, call bell in reach, non-slip footwear, scheduled rounds. If a client falls: do NOT lift them — call the nurse, assess first, then document and report per policy.

Resources: Public Health Ontario: fall preventionRNAO: falls guideline

🧪 Lab: Do a 10-point fall-risk sweep of a mock resident room.

✍️ Self-check question

Why must you never pick a fallen client up by yourself?

Module 3 · Specialized Care & Career Professional 4 lessons ›

Dementia & Responsive Behaviours

🎯 Support clients living with dementia.

Dementia care focuses on the person behind the disease: routines, calm environments, and validation over correction. Responsive behaviours (wandering, agitation, resistance to care) are communication — pain, fear, boredom, or need. De-escalate with approach from the front, slow speech, redirection, and never arguing with delusions.

Resources: Alzheimer Society of Ontario: U-First!GPA (Gentle Persuasive Approaches) basics

🧪 Lab: Write three responses to 'I want to go home' using validation and redirection.

✍️ Self-check question

What might sudden agitation in a dementia client physically indicate?

Palliative & End-of-Life Care

🎯 Provide comfort-focused care and family support.

Palliative care prioritizes comfort: pain and symptom watching, mouth care, positioning, and presence. Recognize end-of-life signs (changes in breathing, mottling, decreased intake) and report them. Support families with listening and practical help; after death, follow facility post-mortem care with dignity and cultural respect.

Resources: Ontario Palliative Care NetworkHPCO resources

🧪 Lab: List comfort measures for a client in the last 48 hours of life.

✍️ Self-check question

Why is mouth care still essential when a client stops eating?

Documentation, Reporting & PHIPA

🎯 Document care accurately and legally.

Care documentation is a legal record: chart facts (what you saw/did), times, and refusals — never opinions or blame. Report changes in condition promptly (skin, appetite, mood, mobility). PHIPA governs health information: access only what your role needs, never discuss clients in public or on social media.

Resources: IPC Ontario: PHIPAFacility documentation standards

🧪 Lab: Write a factual progress note for a client who refused a bath and ate 50% of lunch.

✍️ Self-check question

Your neighbour asks how your client Mrs. K is doing — what do you say?

Placement & Employment Success

🎯 Convert placement into a PSW job offer.

Ontario PSWs are in chronic shortage — placement sites often hire directly. Success formula: perfect attendance, volunteer for learning, ask the preceptor for feedback, and master the facility's documentation system early. Prepare for scenario interviews: falls, refusals, and prioritizing two residents who both need you now.

Resources: Job Bank Canada: PSW postingsOntario PSW initiatives page

🧪 Lab: Draft STAR answers for: a fall you responded to, a refusal you resolved, a change you reported.

✍️ Self-check question

What three qualities do LTC employers say they cannot train?

Test yourself

Program quiz

🧠 Personal Support Worker (PSW) — knowledge check

Instant scoring · progress saved on your device · retake anytime

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Career outcomes

Personal Support WorkerHome Care AideLong-Term Care AideResident Care AttendantPalliative Care Worker

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Where it's offered

Toronto · Hamilton · London · Scarborough

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