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At New York City's Calvary Hospital, a 38-year-old program trains and certifies individuals to become Cancer Care Technicians (CCT), paraprofessionals who assist nurses in meeting the needs of cancer patients and their families. After one year in the hospital, nurse's aides are eligible to participate in the CCT training program, which includes studying the physiological, psychosocial, environmental, and spiritual needs of cancer patients. In addition to being competent in these areas, CCTs must be able to work well with others, have sound judgment, demonstrate initiative, and use good communication skills. There are four levels of CCT paraprofessionals, which creates room for advancement. The program encourages participants to pursue professional nursing education.
According to the program's director, the CCTs help relieve patient and family suffering while affording nurses more time to perform tasks only they can provide. In their work, CCTs follow nursing guidelines to manage problems such as skin breakdown, malnutrition, impaired coping, safety risks, and bleeding precautions. CCTs participate in ongoing training through lectures and skill-building workshops sponsored by nurses, physicians, and others from the interdisciplinary team, including pastoral care.
For those interested in developing similar programs, Calvary offers a ``Train the Trainer'' program for other hospital educators. (For information on contacting Calvary, see the Resources section on page 327 at the end of this chapter.)
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This online version of the book Improving Care for the End of Life: A Sourcebook for Health Care Managers and Clinicians is provided with permission of Americans for Better Care of the Dying [ www.abcd-caring.org ] and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For further information on quality improvement in end-of-life care visit The Palliative Care Policy Center [ www.medicaring.org ]. |
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