“LIH has been doing the cutting edge things.”

– Dr. Kristen Mauk, Past President, Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (US)

Graduate Class of 2016 LIH Healthcare Nursing Rehabilitation Training Program

It was a special day on 18 June 2016 for a group of nurses as they came to say goodbye to their classmates and teacher on the last day of a special training program, the first CARF-supported nursing rehabilitation training program in China. Smiling and holding their certificates, graduates captured the memory in a traditional group photo.

The Moments of the first CARF-Supported Nursing Rehab. Training Program

Demonstration of transporting a patient by presenting a detailed breakdown of each caregiver’s role in this task.

On 5 June 2016, LIH Healthcare reached a new milestone by presenting the first CARF-supported Nursing Rehabilitation Training program. “Professionally designed and implemented, this new training program was introduced in early May and received many inquiries and interest from the nursing community all over China, from the first day registration opened,” said Michelle Wang and Shirley Gao of the LIH Healthcare Training Division.

It was the first time for the nursing community in China to experience a full-length nursing course offered by Dr. Kristen Mauk, the recent Past President of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN) of the United States. Many participants reflected on the final day that the training program provoked participants’ learning experience in various effective learning formats, such as case studies, group activities, skills demonstration, and real practice with equipment. Dr. Mauk also sees a great potential to deliver these types of training programs in the long run, to support more nursing professionals in China. “The collaboration with LIH has been great, they’ve been doing the ‘cutting edge’ things in China,” said Dr. Mauk.

“New, refreshing, and eye-opening learning experience”

-Miss Zhao, Training Participant, Class of 2016

Training program participants working on a case analysis in a multidisciplinary team setting.

With little emphasis on training for clinical teamwork, especially working in multi-disciplinary teams in their prior experience, training participants had the opportunity to immerse themselves in rich learning formats such as group discussion, case studies about collaboration, and problem solving and presenting solutions based on real case scenarios. Two additional guest instructors, Peter Drzymala (Professional Practice Lead, Occupational Therapy) and Marla Blazer (Professional Practice Lead, Physical Therapy) of LIH Kunming SkyCity Rehabilitation Hospital were invited to co-teach the class on a regular basis. Miss Zhao, one of the participants in the class, reflected that conversation with the guest therapists was an eye-opening experience and led her to believe in the importance of working with different disciplines to provide the best course of action for treating patients.

Therapists Peter Drzymala and Marla Blazer share their perspective during a group discussion.

Throughout the course of the training program, the class was given tremendous opportunity to have hands-on learning experiences. Skill demonstration and practice of evidence-based rehabilitation techniques were heavily applied to strengthen participants’ learning experience. As one of the training participants recalled, “I’ve seen the mechanical lift all my life but have never been able to try it by myself, it never occurred to me that I should and now I know why I should.”

Training participants take a close look at catheterization equipment that has not been well introduced in the practice of Chinese nursing community.

“Elder mistreatment and abuse” scenarios assess participants’ ability to identify the signs of elder mistreatment and abuse and distinguish normal conduct from abnormal conduct.

Dr. Mauk provides instruction and explanation on use of a mechanical lift.

Was it a Success?

When the program came to a close, the LIH Healthcare Training Division immediately conducted a comprehensive evaluation and analysis. According to Michelle Wang, Training Supervisor, the learning format was the highest participant rated aspect of the program. Though experienced in more passive and traditional learning methods through their former education, almost ALL of the training participants showed an extremely high level of adaption and preference toward the new learning method introduced, even those that seemed to be out of their comfort zone. “Participants seemed very eager to jump out, ask questions, and experience practice regardless of the language barrier…,” recalled Ms. Wang. This successful learning experience resulted in 97% of participants claiming that they are willing to participate in more locally-offered training similar to this one provided by LIH in the future and would offer their assistance if the training was scheduled in their local area.

What comes next?

Since early this year, LIH Healthcare has developed and offered a series of groundbreaking training programs as the leading rehabilitation healthcare provider in China. With successful completion of the first CARF-supported Nursing Rehabilitation Training Course Series, LIH Healthcare will continue to focus on providing state-of-art training programs featuring more series on general competency learning and practices, advanced learning for senior nurses, and CARF Standards and Accreditation for Rehabilitation Nurse Leadership.

For more information, contact Dr. Jie Zhang, Director, LIH Healthcare Traning Division, at jie.zhang@lih-healthcare.com