QBS, Inc.

Many organizations need a behavioral safety course that is tailored to their specific mission, setting, and persons served. On-site Safety-Care trainings can be customized to meet your needs.

First, the basic training materials can be modified for your needs. If certain procedures are unneeded, for example, all reference to them can be removed from the Trainee Manual. If you need two versions of the Trainee Manual—one with limited procedures for ancillary staff and one with the full version of the course for direct care staff—we can provide that.

Additionally, there are a number of advanced modules that can be incorporated into the course.

Safety-Care Advanced Modules

Improving Cooperation

In many settings, staff struggle to engage the individuals they work with in the programming they provide. This module focuses on simple, non-coercive, reinforcement-based procedures for enhancing compliance with staff requests. Staff will learn, practice, and demonstrate competency in using these interventions with typical compliance issues they face in their settings

Therapeutic Relationships

The quality of relationships between staff and persons served has a strong effect on learning, cooperation, quality of life, and reduction of incidents. In this module, staff learn a set of specific and functional behaviors that they can use to improve the quality of therapeutic relationships at their organization.

Developing Behavior Support Plans

This is an introduction to behavioral assessment and the use of non-aversive procedures to manage the antecedents associated with challenging behaviors and teach and reinforce alternative behaviors. Trainees willlearn assessment and program development skills, then practice using case studies. An extended half,  full, or two-day course is also available to organizations that would like staff to have more in-depth training in this topic. Note that this module is a training only. QBS does not certify trainers in Developing Behavior Support Plans.

Working with Individuals Affected by Language Impairments

While the core Safety-Care course is consistent with the needs of individuals affected by a range of impairments, this module specifically addresses how to work with those who have limited receptive or expressive language, including those affected by develop mental disabilities, brain injury, mental retardation, etc. Communication impairments can lead to some individuals to learn how to meet their needs via aggression or other dangerous behaviors instead of language. Also, many individuals have reduced language skills when they are agitated. This module teaches staff a range of strategies for improving functional communication to reduce incidents, as well as specific de-escalation procedures.

Prevention and Management of Bullying

In some settings where services are provided to children or adolescents, bullying can be a serious problem. In this module staff learn to identify bullying, create an environment in which bullying becomes much less likely, and how to deal with bullying when it occurs.

Optional Physical Techniques

Floor Holds

Holds in which an individual is required to lay down on the floor can be risky if improperly applied, but can be necessary for management of particularly challenging individuals. Trainees learn about risks of floor holds, when
their use is appropriate and not appropriate, how to apply them safely, and when to discontinue their use.

Preventing and Managing Fights

Covers a range of prevention and deescalation techniques, as well as use of Safety-Care procedures if a fight does occur. Includes both individual interventions and team interventions.

Management of Highly Dangerous Individuals

Some organizations provide services to adults or adolescents with the potential to cause serious harm to self or others. Trainees learn about developing a specialized crisis team, how to develop and implement a safety plan, and how to use teamwork and maneuver to manage particularly threatening individuals,. Trainees will also work through additional role-play exercises at a higher intensity than in the core Safety-Care course.

Seclusion

In some settings, it is appropriate to use highly restrictive procedures such as seclusion of a person in a locked room. In this module, staff learn about risks and contra-indications of seclusion, as well as procedures for safely moving an individual to a seclusion room and exiting the room without injury to the staff or to the person in the room.

Intramuscular Injection During a Hold

In some settings, medical staff may sometimes be required to administer an injection to a person who is being held. This module provides two safe, effective options for doing so without the use of prone floor hold

Safety-Care for Supervisors

This module shows supervisory staff how to support line staff in the use of Safety-Care procedures. Supervisory staff are taught how to train new staff in incident prevention and management, give respectful feedback to staff while they are working, work with staff to problem-solve, and how to teach staff to lead during behavioral incidents. Safety-Care trainers will also learn about monitoring of staff proficiency and developing a Technique of the Week program to make sure that staff retain the information they learned in training.

Restraint Prevention

Designed to complement the Safety-Care for Supervisors module, this section focuses on using Safety-Care as the basis of an organization-wide initiative designed to prevent the need for restraints of all kinds. The restraint prevention module includes the development of a detailed and functional restraint prevention plan. Recommended for supervisors, administrators, clinicians, and senior staff.

Bringing Safety-Care to an Organization

How do you implement a new behavioral safety course at an organization? Covers coordination of training, developing a rollout plan, anticipating and coping with problems, and helping staff manage the stress of change.

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