Everyone agrees that CHWs need to know how to do their job. Their supervisors, on the other hand, are less informed.

Most of our CoP participants offer—or are soon to offer—some kind of training to CHWs. But there are few options for training their supervisors.

This is true even when supervisors admit that they’re not sure what to do with CHWs, either because they’re new to the job or CHWs are new to their organization.

No one who attended the October 22, 2018, meeting offers formalized training for supervisors, but everyone who attended recognizes the need.

Here are some takeaways about what CHW supervisors should learn in an introductory course:

• What a CHW is
• How does a supervisor in an office support someone who’s out in the field most of the time
• Boundaries
• Scope of what a CHW can do
• What a CHW shouldn’t do
• Training needs of CHW staff, including HIPPA, reporting systems
• Integrating CHWs into a multidisciplinary group
• Advocating for CHWs if they’re not getting the team’s attention

Supervisors might benefit from additional more focused training that’s specific to their work environment, such as managing CHWs in a multidisciplinary team or managing CHWs in a community environment.

Any training should dovetail with more skills-based training, including:

• How to handle situations that CHWs might encounter, such as calling CCS
• Conflict mediation
• Mandatory reporting

There is a very basic curriculum from the CDC about how to train CHWs.

Quinn Cartwright says the Nevada Community Health Worker Association where she works offers technical assistance for people in field placement program. This focuses on helping supervisors better understand how to work with new CHWs, how not to be overburdened or overburdening.

Problems with Engagement

Engaging this group of learners is a challenge. Often it’s because supervisors are already busy and the idea of squeezing in lengthy training is unrealistic. Sometimes it’s because training isn’t well targeted to their work environment, such as a clinical vs. community setting. Sometimes it’s because existing programs are unengaging.

Some possible solutions:

• Blended training with some online modules and in-person networking and learning sessions.
• Offering very concise but information rich self-guided modules that are available on demand whenever a supervisor needs it.

More suggestions? Request to become a member so you can participate in our newsgroup and forums.