Patient Care Associates: Training Guide for Facilities
A patient care associate (PCA) works under the direct supervision of a licensed nurse, delivering hands-on support with patient care. Due to the high stakes of many healthcare settings, a strong patient care associates training program is essential for onboarding and developing these vital team members.
Whether you’re looking to evolve your current training program, or building one from the ground up, we can help. In this article, we’ll provide a brief overview of PCA training by answering some common questions before delivering five best practices of an effective program. Quality education means higher quality care, and your patients deserve the best experience possible.
Patient Care Associates Training: FAQ
If you’re wondering, What is a patient care assistant’s relationship to a patient care associate? we’ll answer that question and more below. As patient needs become more complex, these supportive team members make a significant impact on health outcomes by taking care of basic — but essential — needs like eating assistance, mobilization, and cleanliness.
What is a patient care associate?
This question may seem simple, but given the number of names associated with nursing support personnel, it’s worth addressing. In fact, as many as 37 different titles are routinely used for this one healthcare role. For the most part, patient care associates and assistants are interchangeable terms. For example, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center (and Mt Sinai) use the name associate, but the Cleveland Clinic uses assistant for nearly identical job roles and responsibilities.
It’s worth noting that a PCA (either associate or assistant) is not always synonymous with patient care technician (PCT). There’s significant overlap — they’re both considered unlicensed assistive personnel (UAPs) — but PCTs usually have additional clinical responsibility (such as performing an EKG test on a patient) after undergoing more training.
| Alternative names |
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| Role Overview | PCAs provide non-medical patient care under the direct supervision of a nurse, often assisting with activities of daily living (ADLs). |
| Qualifications |
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| Common Responsibilities |
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What’s the difference between a PCA vs. CNA?
The primary difference is that CNAs are certified and can provide some medical care (like certain point of care tests). They pursue formal training and must pass a state-approved certification test vs. PCAs, whose qualifications vary by facility and state. Many employers who hire PCAs as their primary form of nursing support ensure quality care through internal training programs and requirements.
Do facilities have to provide PCA training?
State-level compliance measures often dictate the type of patient care aide training for nonlicensed employees. However, all nursing aides at facilities participating in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are required to complete a training and competency program. Beyond the compliance obligations, though, all healthcare organizations have a moral obligation to ensure staff can adequately provide safe patient care.
Which topics are essential to patient care associates training?
National nursing shortages may push more healthcare facilities toward hiring unlicensed support staff. To ensure job readiness, we’ll outline some important topics for any patient care assistant training course.
| PCA role and scope, and facility-specific expectations | Standard precautions and infection control | Patient safety measures and initiatives |
| Patient rights, privacy, and HIPAA rules | Basic care and ADLs best practice | Documentation and reporting requirements |
| Professionalism (including teamwork and patient-centered approaches) | Vital sign (VS) collection | Any facility-specific clinical tasks (like point of care testing) |
How Do Healthcare Facilities Benefit From Hiring PCAs?
Because PCAs don’t require initial patient care technician certification or prior training — and given current CNA shortages — their primary benefit to healthcare facilities is a readily available, supportive workforce. Additional advantages of hiring patient care assistants include:
- Operational and financial efficiency.
- A more robust workforce (reducing burnout and turnover).
- Better patient experiences .
- Improved patient safety and health outcomes.
Patient Care Associate Training: Best Practices
If you’re looking to provide your assistants with knowledge beyond the foundational Red Cross Patient Care Technician Training options (like CPR and first aid certifications), we can help. Here are five best practices to guide an effective in-house nursing assistant (or patient care technician) training program.
1. Standardize PCA Training Objectives and Format Across the Facility
To ensure that your staff operate under clear, consistent standards and expectations, introductory PCA training should be standardized across the facility. When PCAs have attended the same initial training, organizational flexibility is strengthened because PCAs can safely float between units or departments, helping alleviate staffing burdens and keep patients safe.
Tip: Consult stakeholders and facility leadership on program objectives for greater buy-in and to match coursework with long-term organizational goals.
2. Ensure PCA Training Topics and Goals Align With Facility Type
An Ohio hospital that utilized a state-tested nursing assistant (STNA) program found that their staff still weren’t prepared for the acute care environment. This was because the external training focused on nursing home procedures and needs, leaving PCAs unequipped for hospital-based duties. Don’t let external or broad program materials do this to your facility — review your program to make sure it suits your patients’ (and staff’s) actual needs.
Tip: Use your own facility’s policies and procedures as a guide for the program’s materials and intent.
3. Select the Best Staff to Lead and Mentor PCA Trainees
A great leader makes all the difference. Choose a team member who’s genuinely excited about patient care associates training objectives and can relate to trainees’ real-world experiences. An instructor who’s struggled to obtain a blood pressure (maybe due to a patient’s agitation) will offer a lot more practical experience, improving the lasting impact of the program.
Tip: Use senior PCAs from your organization as part of the training team and if possible, offer incentives to maintain enthusiastic participation.
4. Balance Classroom-Based PCA Education With Hands-On Learning
The necessity of confidentiality and HIPAA laws are important knowledge for anyone working in patient care. These crucial topics should be balanced alongside hands-on skill instruction and verification measures. Research has shown that muscle memory improves response times and action quality. By giving PCAs a head start on growing their skills to muscle memory with practice prior to patient care, they’ll be better equipped to provide patients with care that extends beyond simple competence.
Tip: Integrate simulation labs into your training program (where appropriate) and offer scenarios that integrate additional challenges into care tasks (like abnormal vital signs results, requiring the trainee to then report to the nurse).
5. Seek Feedback to Continuously Refine and Reform Your PCA Training
If not for staff feedback, that Ohio hospital never would have recognized that PCAs felt inadequately prepared for patient care due to misaligned (external) training and job expectations. Encourage authentic perceptions of program value and helpfulness and continue to update, incorporating the identified strengths and weaknesses to guide effective reform.
Tip: Ask PCAs during their annual (or first) performance evaluations about what training made them feel more prepared for the job and where they felt they could have used more training or education. Those practice-in-hindsight answers will offer a lot as you continue to develop your program.
Need Help Engaging Your Staff in the Face of Large Healthcare Change?
Staff buy-in is essential to effective patient care associates training programs. For expert-backed engagement strategies, we’ve got you covered with our wide range of facility guides and best practice recommendations that can help you drive lasting participation.