Course description

Duration:
This is a Full-time one-year course, which runs from September to May. Exact details of the timetable will be given out to students during the induction process prior to class commencement in September.

Overview
This course provides a recognised qualification for healthcare workers, currently in employment and those seeking to work in this sector. This Healthcare Support Award is one of the Department of Health and Children’s recommended qualifications for Healthcare Assistants working in the public and private sector. In addition, the newly published National Quality Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People require all newly recruited care staff and those in posts less than one year, to commence training to Level 5 QQI or equivalent within two years of taking up employment. This course is the passport to work in the healthcare sector. This course is delivered by teachers including specialist nurses who bring a real depth of experience to their teaching. Students will use two fully equipped Nursing suites for all of the practical work.

Entry Requirements:

One of the following:

Leaving Certificate (LC Established, LCVP, LCA) or equivalent
A Full QQI Level 4 Award (or equivalent)
For Mature applicants (aged 21 or over) – appropriate experience will be considered in lieu of formal qualifications. Note: Mature applicants may be entitled to VTOS funding. For details about VTOS, please contact the college.
For applicants who do not meet the above entry requirements, please contact DFEi.
Applicants whose first language is not English require level B2 competency on the CEFR language framework. Applicants may be required to undergo English language testing to establish their language competency.

Course Modules:

Care of the Older Person
Care Skills
Care Support
Infection Prevention and Control
Safety and Health at Work
Communications
Work Experience
Teamworking

Certification:

Level 5 QQI Award – Healthcare Support (5M4339)
First Aid Certificate
Manual and People Handling Certificate
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults – HSeLanD
Infection, Prevention and Control – HSeLanD

Special Features:
Jobs Fair:

Due to the large demand for graduates of this course, DFEi hosts an annual jobs fair to help students secure employment.

All DFEi students are provided with an M365 account, which gives them access to the tools and resources needed to deliver assessment work while attending their course. M365 Apps include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and OneDrive.

Work Experience:
Students will be required to undertake a period of work placement in an organisation connected to their vocational area during the academic year. Work Experience is mandatory for all of our full-time Level 5 courses. Students are required to source their own work placement but will be assisted in this by the work experience teacher. The work placement for this course is 150 hours. Students may work in healthcare settings such as nursing homes, health centres, daycare or special needs centres. Students usually find the work experience element of the course to be invaluable and should bear in mind that a successful work placement can sometimes lead to further opportunities.

This programme requires students to undertake work experience that will bring them into contact with children or vulnerable adults and in which they assume positions of trust. As a result, all students will undertake Garda Vetting prior to commencing their work experience.

Applicants should be aware that healthcare environments used in work experience may insist that students are fully vaccinated for Covid 19.

Additional Information:
Assessment:

Assessment techniques will be used to assess the knowledge and skills that students will have achieved on successful completion of modules:

Student Record
Portfolio/Collection of Work
Assignments
Examination – Written
Project
Skills Demonstration

A full major award is granted on passing the relevant eight components. On successful completion of each component, you will be awarded a pass, a merit or a distinction grade. See www.qqi.ie for more details

Progression Opportunities:
Graduates are eligible to apply through the CAO and/or the Higher Education Links Scheme for entry to year one of a range of higher certificate and degree programmes, at Universities, Institutes of Technology and Technological Universities using their full QQI Level 5 major award. Places are not guaranteed in these Institutes and are subject to students meeting certain criteria. It is the students’ responsibility to consult with the relevant HEI for information on the admissions process and any specific entry requirements. Students may also refer to the individual HEI prospectus or may also refer to the QQI FET section of the CAO website. www.cao.ie

Progression Examples:

BSc Health and Society (DC209)

Dublin City University – www.dcu.ie

BA Applied Social Studies in Social Care (TU991)

BA Applied Social Care (TU997)

Technological University Dublin – www.tud.ie

BSc Social Studies (DN700)

BSc Psychology (DN720)

BSocSc Social Policy and Sociology (DN750)

University College Dublin – www.ucd.ie

BSc Applied Psychology (DL825)

IADT, Dún Laoghaire – www.iadt.ie

BA Social Care Practice (WD192)

BA Psychology (WD163)

BA Social Science (WD187)

Waterford Institute of Technology – www.wit.ie

Bachelor of Deaf Studies (TR016)

Trinity College Dublin – www.tcd.ie

Career Paths:
Employers actively seek DFEi graduates for employment, as support workers, healthcare assistants in the public and private sectors, nursing homes, day care facilities, hospitals, private homecare sector, intellectual disability environment, agencies and community care.