(1) The 70-hour home care aide basic training is in addition to orientation and safety training. It is 70 hours and includes:

(a) The core competencies and skills that long-term care workers need in order to provide personal care services effectively and safely;

(b) Practice and demonstration of skills; and

(c) Population specific competencies.

(2) DSHS must approve the 70-hour home care aide basic training curricula.

(3) On-the-job training may be applied to the core competencies of 70-hour home care aide basic training for an amount that must be approved by the department.

(4) The DSHS developed fundamentals of caregiving (FOC) or another department approved training may be used to teach the core competencies of the 70-hour home care aide basic training but the FOC must include enhancements. Additional student materials are required to ensure the enhancements are well planned and documented for students. Materials must be submitted for approval and approved per WAC 388-112A-1020. Examples of enhancements include, but are not limited to:

(a) More time for workers to practice skills including:

(i) The mechanics of completing the skill correctly;

(ii) Resident centered communication and problem solving associated with performing the skill;

(iii) The different levels of care required for each skill including independent, supervision, limited, extensive, and total;

(iv) Working with assistive devices associated with a skill;

(v) Helpful tips or best practices in working through common resident challenges associated with a skill; and

(vi) Disease specific concerns or challenges associated with a skill.

(b) Augmenting or adding additional materials, student activities, videos, or guest speakers that:

(i) More deeply reinforce and fortify the learning outcomes required for basic training;

(ii) Ensure each student integrates and retains the knowledge and skills needed to provide quality basic personal care; and

(iii) Prepares workers for the certification testing environment and process.

(c) Enhancements are not materials or activities that are one or more of the following:

(i) Are out of the scope of practice for a long-term care worker such as content clearly written for registered nurses;

(ii) Are identical to, or a direct replacement of, those already included in the FOC;

(iii) Fail to reinforce Washington state laws associated with resident rights and resident directed care;

(iv) Long-term care workers are not paid to provide;

(v) Are written above a high school reading level.

(5) The delivery mode of the 70-hour home care aide basic training may be either in-person or virtual classroom instruction, or a hybrid of online and in-person, remote, or virtual classroom instruction. One hour of completed classroom instruction or other form of training (such as a virtual classroom, remote or online course) equals one hour of training.

(a) Online and virtual classroom modules must be interactive, provide the student with access to the instructor, and adhere to the DSHS online and virtual classroom standards posted on DSHS's website at https://bit.ly/dshs-online-standards.

(b) The in-person skills training or remote skills training portion of hybrid modules must be no less than 16 hours of the total basic training hours and include in-person or remote instruction on the personal care tasks supporting activities of daily living, as described in WAC 388-112A-0320.

(6) The long-term care worker must be able to ask the instructor questions during the training.

(7) There is no challenge test for the 70-hour home care aide basic training.