All caregivers are responsible for ensuring the safety of those in their care. This includes protecting them from abuse. Unfortunately, incidents of abuse and neglect often go unrecognized and unreported. This is why it is critical for all caregivers to be able to recognize potential abuse, know how to respond, and take steps to prevent abuse. This course aims to educate direct care professionals on how to recognize and prevent abuse.

About 70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced at least one traumatic event (Sidran Institute, 2018). Most overcome their trauma responses without formal intervention. Others, however, experience persistent symptoms that need formal intervention. The goal of this course is to provide addiction, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapists, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human services settings with information on how to assess and treat trauma- and stressor-related disorders.

This course focuses on 2 continuous quality improvement strategies that can be used to change complex systems—the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) method and Six Sigma’s define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) method. These simple, but effective, methods of making minor changes in systems can transform ambiguous and error-prone processes into tested, clear processes designed to reduce errors.

Whenever a crime occurs, evidence can be transferred among the perpetrator, victim, and the crime scene. Law enforcement personnel collect and preserve crime scene evidence. Healthcare professionals can simultaneously assist with a crime investigation and provide good healthcare to patients by collecting and preserving evidence from the patient’s body. It is imperative to understand that the collection and preservation of evidence from a patient should never compromise the patient’s safety, autonomy, or legal rights. This course provides an overview of interviewing, collecting, and preserving forensic evidence, toxicology, and documentation.

Family violence affects people across all demographics and occurs in a variety of relationships, including between intimate partners, family members, and household members. While progress has been made, it remains a serious issue in the U.S. and globally. Healthcare professionals in all settings play a critical role in identifying and supporting individuals experiencing family violence. This course provides nurses and social workers with information on how to identify and treat people experiencing family violence.

Forensic evidence connects the scene, the survivor, and the suspect together to assist the justice system in solving crimes. Crucial parts of evidence collection include knowing the correct procedures to preserve evidence and prevent contamination. Patients presenting to the emergency department with injuries requiring forensic evidence collection are often afraid and distressed. Healthcare professionals should know how to care for their emotional needs as well as their physical ones. 

Hospitals and providers currently receive reimbursement by meeting criteria established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Quality measures and length of stay data are measures that affect hospital reimbursement. Yet the patient’s experience of care also remains a key factor in hospital reimbursement models. CMS uses the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey to measure the patient’s experience, and nursing care is one part of the survey. Hospitals that perform well on the HCAHPS ratings are more likely to receive better reimbursement and bonuses. Nurses impact hospital ratings and reimbursement by providing the patient with a positive care experience.

This course will teach you about the various types of child abuse and neglect that are currently the most common, and the physical and behavioral warning signs that may accompany different kinds of child maltreatment. You will learn some general guidelines for mandatory reporting and how you can find out the specific reporting requirements of your particular state.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects thousands of people each year. It affects people from all social and economic backgrounds, ages, sex, genders, sexual orientations, race, and ethnicities. Those who experience IPV often suffer adverse social and health outcomes that make early recognition, identification, and response a priority for professionals working in healthcare and health and human services.

Team-based healthcare is provided by two or more people who represent different professions with the common goal of improving the well-being of a patient. Interprofessional (IP) collaboration may improve outcomes such as pain relief, improved access to healthcare services, and early recognition of treatment failure. Effective team-based, patient-centered care should be tailored to the population served and the needs of those individuals. This course outlines the components of team-based care and provides examples in different settings.

This course aims to help healthcare team members identify core principles of team-based IP healthcare in all settings.

Human trafficking victims are often concealed by their traffickers; however, studies show that many victims interact with healthcare professionals while they are being victimized. This places healthcare professionals in a unique position to recognize the signs and risk factors of human trafficking and take steps if they suspect a person may be a victim of human trafficking.

The goal of this course is to provide healthcare staff with critical steps to recognize and respond to human trafficking.

Nurses deliver infusion therapy to millions of patients in hospitals, home healthcare settings, long-term care facilities, outpatient clinics, and physicians’ offices annually. Nursing professionals perform many daily activities involving peripheral catheter insertion and safe delivery of intravenous (IV) fluids and medications. The use of vascular access devices and IV therapy are commonplace in the acute care setting. With that said, clinicians must take caution due to the potentially serious and fatal complications that can occur from inappropriate IV fluid or drug delivery. Patient safety requires that nurses institute safeguards to avoid complications associated with IV treatment.

Every year, workers are injured or killed when the equipment they are working with unexpectedly turns on or the residual energy stored in the equipment is released. Lockout/Tagout, or LOTO, is a set of procedures used to control hazardous energy during the service or maintenance of machine and equipment. The aim of LOTO procedures is to protect workers from the release of hazardous energy.  

The goal of this course is to provide all staff with an overview of lockout/tagout procedures.

This course equips nurses, providers, and pharmacists with essential knowledge to identify and manage sepsis using the latest evidence-based guidelines, including screening tools and the 1-hour sepsis bundle. Participants will learn about sepsis pathophysiology, diagnostic strategies, and treatment protocols while emphasizing interprofessional collaboration. The course also highlights prevention, patient-centered care, and strategies to improve outcomes in this life-threatening condition.

Almost 95% of all maternal mortalities happen in low and lower middle-income countries (World Health Organization, 2023). However, the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among all developed countries. Approximately 700 patients die each year in the U.S. due to pregnancy complications and nearly 85% of those deaths are preventable (Hill et al., 2022). Furthermore, the AMA and CDC state that Black and AIAN patients are 3 to 5 times more likely to die from maternal complications than White patients (AMA, 2023). Indigenous, immigrant, refugee, and low-income populations are also at significantly greater risk of poorer maternal outcomes. However, in the past few years, global and national advocacy initiatives have set their philanthropic and financial radar on improving maternal outcomes in these vulnerable communities.

Medication errors and substandard care occur often in today’s complex healthcare organizations. High-reliability organizations remain alert to potential errors and ways in which they can be prevented, regardless of how few adverse events occur. Healthcare organizations with a culture for patient safety focus on identifying the cause of errors and applicable prevention strategies rather than blaming or punishing the people involved in an error. Organizations that focus on patient safety in this manner have higher rates of error reporting and are better positioned to address problems at the systems level.

The goal of this course is to educate healthcare professionals about approaches to prevent medication errors.

This course is designed to enhance the skills of healthcare professionals in conducting effective medication reconciliation with the aim of avoiding medication errors. Learners will explore core concepts of medication reconciliation, review common sources of medication reconciliation discrepancies, and learn practical strategies to minimize errors in the medication reconciliation process.

This course is about workplace slip, trip, and fall hazards. It alerts you to the serious consequences that can result even from a simple fall or a near fall and provides information about measures that can help you prevent these incidents and reduce potential injuries.

Earthquakes and tsunamis unleash powerful forces of nature. They cause catastrophic infrastructure and property damage and can result in tremendous loss of life. This course presents some basic facts about earthquakes and tsunamis, including considerations for preparedness and protective actions.

Floods and landslides can occur in many locations throughout the U.S. This course provides basic information about these hazards and the destruction they can cause. This course emphasizes the importance of being informed about flooding and landslide risks and hazards around you and various protective actions you could consider taking.

The goal of this course is to provide employees with a foundation for staying safe during flooding and landslides.