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mckenna hp, keeney s&hasson f (2005) Journal of Clinical Nursing14, 426–434Views on the ground: teaching and clinical assessors’ views on vocational training for healthcare assistants in IrelandThis paper reports the views of teaching staff and clinical assessors on their experience of programme delivery and assessment.In 2001, the Irish Department of Health and Children developed a vocational training programme for healthcare assistants. This programme was piloted nationally across 14 hospital and community sites. Teaching staff and clinical assessors at each site delivered the programme.One-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 16 clinical staff and 26 teaching staff. With consent, all interviews were tape-recorded, from which the transcripts were subject to content analysis.A lack of experience and preparation among teaching staff and clinical assessors was evident. The staff's commitment to their role on the programme while maintaining their normal duties caused frustration and uncertainty. Not withstanding, the value of the programme in terms of increased motivation, satisfaction and knowledge of healthcare assistants and the impact on care delivery, was recognized by respondents.This programme represents the provision of a national standard training programme for healthcare assistants. It provides an insight into the delivery of such a programme and the educational and training needs of healthcare assistants through the views of staff that taught and assessed on it.Findings suggest that the development and implementation of a national training programme for healthcare assistants is achievable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the number of healthcare assistants (HCA) in employment has continued to increase, the provision of training and development for this role has, to date, been largely dependent upon the discretion of individual employers. In response to this, the Department of Health and Children in Ireland decided to establish a national training course for HCAs and commission its evaluation. As part of this evaluation, the views of the trainees on the national training course were explored. The behaviour, attitudes and experience of these trainees were explored, as was their perception of the relevance of the training course to their role in employment as a HCA. One-to-one semistructured interviews with 22 randomly selected trainees were conducted. All interview respondents felt that the training course had been beneficial. Findings indicated positive changes in practice following their training. The interview respondents indicated that they felt more confident in their ability to undertake delegated duties and believed that the skills learned on the course would be useful to them in their future work. Other issues, such as course duration, selection procedure and level of assessment, caused some dissatisfaction. The training course led to a significant improvement in the trainees’ knowledge and care skills. Suggestions for changes to the course from the trainee's perspective include amending the trainee selection procedure and improving the organization and content of the course and follow-up support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]