Cooperation with educational institutions makes home care an attractive job

“Participation in the project has expanded my overall view on home care considerably. Before this course and project, my conception of home care was largely based on the media and stories heard from my friends,” tells nursing student Heta Seinä who participated in the project in connection with a gerontological nursing course.

Katja Hautsalo is in charge of the project at TAMK. The project is coordinated by Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK).

“Home care is an unfamiliar working environment for many students. Many students tell that familiarisation with home care made its image more positive and aroused their interest in home care work.”

The key objective of the project is to increase the appeal of home care by strengthening graduating students’ and home care professionals’ competence and readiness for change.

“Before the project ends in spring 2023, we will create student paths to home care and cooperate with home care recruitment. We will also inform upper secondary students of meaningful home care jobs to support their further studies,” sums Project Manager Minna Huhtala from SAMK.

The three-year ESF project started in April 2020. In addition to TAMK and SAMK, SASKY Municipal Education and Training Consortium and Sataedu participate in the project. The working life partners in the Tampere Region are home cares in Sastamala, Parkano and Ikaalinen.

In the joint project of Satakunta and Tampere Regions, many operations use hybrid methods and digitality and thus the project progresses despite the challenges caused by the corona pandemic. The participants also have joint workshops, mainly online.

The workshops focus on key issues of home care, such as readiness for change, service needs of different client groups, work management tools and self-management. The project will also develop a mentoring model to improve orientation of new employees and support them in their work.

A national webinar on appeal of elderly care work will be organised by five national field-related projects on 25 October. The webinar is designed for municipal elderly care decision-makers, superiors, elderly councils, associations and organisations. The webinar is hosted by Actress Seela Sella. She is also a speaker of the event.

 

Further information
Katja Hautsalo
Senior Lecturer, School of Social Services and Health Care, Tampere University of Applied Sciences
katja.hautsalo [at] tuni.fi (katja[dot]hautsalo[at]tuni[dot]fi), tel. +358 40 572 7599

Project website:
https://vetojapitokotihoito.samk.fi/

Text: Emmi Rämö
Photo: Karoliina Ranua