Patient Care Technician

This course provides instruction in adult, child and infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as well as advanced first aid. It is designed to prepare an individual to handle medical or accidental emergencies until professional help arrives or until the victim can seek help, and to handle minor injuries that do not require professional assistance. Upon successful completion of this course, the student is qualified to receive CPR and Advanced First Aid certificates through the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS).

This course will prepare students to provide basic bedside care in a patient home setting. Students who complete this course may find positions as a Patient Companion or Homemaker/Home Health Aide. Topics include an overview of common diseases and conditions of home care patients, infection control, vital signs, providing personal care, and collecting specimens for testing. This course alone does not prepare students for an industry recognized credential, but is a requirement of the Patient Care Tech Certificate program.

This course will consist of an overview of the cardiovascular system, proper documentation and vital signs, along with HIPAA compliance and infection control in the clinical setting. The main focus of this course will be on how to perform and analyze an EKG and recognize various arrhythmias. Students will also learn about exercise electrocardiography and how to perform ambulatory monitoring. The course will also include extensive instruction on cardiovascular pharmacology.

This course will prepare students for performing phlebotomy procedures in a variety of healthcare settings. Students will learn about the roles and responsibilities of the phlebotomist which will include infection control procedures, legal and ethics issues, working with special populations and situations, and proper specimen collection and handling procedures. The focus will be on performing venipuncture and capillary procedures properly to obtain specimens for various laboratory testing.

This course provides students with skills necessary to work with Electronic Health Records. This course is ideal for those currently working in the health field or those looking to enter into a health-related program who are hoping to learn more about key concepts and the use of Electronic Health Records in the medical setting. Topics include the cost and needs to consider when implementing an EHR system, how to utilize an EHR system to meet government requirements and medical practice needs, and practical application of various EHR tasks. The course will also cover basic medical terminology and basic medical coding principles. Students who complete this course with a passing grade will be eligible to sit for the Certified Electronic Health Record Specialist exam.

This course provides an overview of the anatomy of each body system in relation to the field of medical assisting.

Principles and concepts of medical law and bioethics, as well as an overview of health care financing through third party payers are the main focus of this course. Topics include: medical practice management, medical law, liability and malpractice prevention, health information management, HIPAA and confidentiality of patient information, employment practices, consent, billing collections, insurance and government healthcare programs, codes of ethics and contemporary bioethical issues.

A programmed learning word building system approach is used to teach basic medical terminology word roots, prefixes, suffixes, language origins, plural formation and grammar rules are studied. Emphasis is placed on word building, definitions, spelling, usage, pronunciation and acceptable medical abbreviations.