Boundaries are important in guiding acceptable and unacceptable interactions. People working in service or care professions are often in situations where the lines between a professional and social relationship become blurred. Setting and keeping professional boundaries are key to protecting your clients, yourself, and the service or care process. The goal of this course is to provide paraprofessionals in health and human services settings with information about professional boundaries, boundary crossings and violations, and situations when crossing a boundary may be acceptable.

In this course, you will learn about Motivational Interviewing, an intervention to help people discover their own desire and ability to make difficult changes. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a way of communicating that draws out people’s own thoughts and beliefs in order to help them address their ambivalence about making a change.

The course uses a blend of instructive information and interactive exercises to help you understand and apply its core concepts. The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human service settings with the skills to define and demonstrate the core concepts of Motivational Interviewing.

End-of-life issues are difficult to face. The decisions to be made are challenging for everyone involved including the dying person, their loved ones, and the healthcare team. Individuals will have their own unique needs and concerns and will cope in their own way. But this can also be an opportunity for personal growth. These events will often provide people with the opportunity to self-reflect and gain insight into what is most valuable to them.

Healthcare professionals witness the impact on patients’ quality of life and also see how hard it is for people to make changes in their health. Motivational interviewing is a patient-centered way to have a conversation that supports those struggling to make behavioral changes. The provider helps the patient explore personal motivators and identify their own goals. The approach is based on what matters to the patient. When each member of an interprofessional team practices from this point of view, the results can be positive for the patient and for the practitioners.

This course explains the concept of a professional therapeutic boundary and how it differs from a personal relationship. You will learn about the ethical role of the clinical practitioner in establishing appropriate roles and boundaries, the difference between boundary crossings and boundary violations, how to appropriately use social media and other technology, and how to recognize situations with high potential for harmful boundary violations. As you master these skills, you will become more effective in maintaining an appropriate relationship between you and your clients.

The patient interview is the most important part of your exam. Gaining the patient’s perspective and learning more about issues important to them can guide you in developing patient-specific care plans. This course will discuss how to conduct patient-centered interviews. You will learn interviewing methods to effectively elicit the important details about a patient's reason for presenting to the clinic. Information will also be presented on how to approach challenging situations that arise during patient encounters.

Sexuality and gender identity have received significant attention in the last few decades across the spectrum of health and human services. This module presents a brief overview of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community and its history within society and healthcare systems. It offers definitions of key concepts related to sexuality and gender identity, as well as general implications for clinical education, practice, and research. This topic is constantly evolving, requiring healthcare professionals to continually need education on this topic. The goal of this course is to provide nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work, speech-language, and pathology/audiology professionals with education around the historical context of the LGBTQ+ population and best practices when interacting with and providing care for the LGBTQ+ population.

Sexuality and gender identity have received significant attention in the last few decades across the spectrum of health and human services. This module presents a brief overview of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community and its history within society and healthcare systems. It offers definitions of key concepts related to sexuality and gender identity, as well as general implications for clinical education, practice, and research. This topic is constantly evolving, requiring healthcare professionals to continually need education on this topic. The goal of this course is to provide nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work, speech-language, and pathology/audiology professionals with education around the historical context of the LGBTQ+ population and best practices when interacting with and providing care for the LGBTQ+ population.

The Health and Medicine Division’s (HMD) Healthy People 2030 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have highlighted the health disparities affecting LGBTQ+ populations. As evidence of health-illness patterns continues to be reported in the literature, this module presents the complex social determinants of health unique among the LGBTQ+ community. Information will be analyzed based on the six conceptual perspectives for understanding LGBTQ+ health suggested by the HMD: stigma, social constructionism, identity affirmation, life course, intersectionality, and social ecology. The goal of this course is to provide social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, physical therapists, and physicians with education regarding the issues of the LGBTQ+ community within the healthcare system.