Basic Patient Care & Clinical Support Skills (8‑wk) | ZMHTI
🏥 Zawadi Memorial Health Training Institute

Basic Patient Care & Clinical Support Skills

📅 8‑week Short Learning Programme 🧾 Competence‑Based (CBET) 🇹🇿 Tanzania
Certificate of Completion SLP category 8 weeks · 200 hrs Practical 70%
proposed award
Basic Patient Care & Clinical Support
duration
8 weeks · 200 hrs
start date
January 2027
training approach
CBET · practical‑led
target group
HCAs, carers, support staff & more
entry
secondary education + ability
Introduction & Programme Aim

🩺 Supportive care for all

Equips learners with basic competencies for safe, ethical and compassionate patient care under professional supervision. Focuses on hygiene, comfort, vital signs, nutrition, mobility, first aid and patient safety.

Graduate profile: competent support worker able to assist in basic care, recognise danger signs, communicate effectively and work within a health‑care team.

🎯 Programme objectives

  • Provide basic personal care & maintain hygiene
  • Apply infection‑prevention procedures
  • Measure and record vital signs
  • Assist with feeding, mobility & elimination
  • Recognise and report basic danger signs
  • Provide first aid & emergency response
  • Communicate respectfully & maintain confidentiality
Programme Structure · 9 integrated modules
CodeModuleTheoryPracticalTotal
PCS 01Introduction to Health‑Care & Ethics12820
PCS 02Infection Prevention and Control102030
PCS 03Patient Hygiene, Comfort & Bed Making82230
PCS 04Vital Signs & Basic Patient Observation102535
PCS 05Nutrition, Feeding and Elimination81725
PCS 06Mobility, Positioning & Patient Transfer52025
PCS 07Basic First Aid & Emergency Response71825
PCS 08Health‑Care Waste Management & Safety51015
PCS 09Supervised Clinical / Skills Practice04040
Total hours200
🔄 classroom + lab + simulation 🧪 supervised clinical practice (40h) 📋 skills logbook
Critical safety‑related competencies
All learners must demonstrate competence in: hand hygiene · PPE use · safe patient handling · vital signs measurement · recognising deterioration · basic first aid (bleeding, choking, unconscious) · safe waste segregation · respectful communication.

🧼 Infection prevention

  • Hand hygiene, PPE, cleaning
  • Sharps safety, cross‑infection
  • Respiratory hygiene, linen handling

🫀 Observation & vital signs

  • Temperature, pulse, respiration
  • Blood pressure, pain, consciousness
  • Danger signs & prompt reporting

🛏️ Patient care basics

  • Bed making, hygiene, grooming
  • Feeding, elimination, positioning
  • Fall prevention, safe transfer

🚨 First aid & emergency

  • Scene safety, casualty assessment
  • Bleeding, burns, choking
  • Unconscious casualty, referral
Teaching, Assessment & Pass requirements

📘 Learning methods

  • Interactive lectures & demonstrations
  • Return demonstrations & skills lab
  • Simulation, case studies, role plays
  • Supervised clinical practice (40h)
  • Logbook & reflective discussion

Practical training is the major component (70%).

📊 Assessment & pass

  • Formative: quizzes, skills checklists, logbook
  • Summative: knowledge tests (15%), assignments (10%), skills lab (25%), logbook (10%), final written (15%), final practical/OSCE (25%)
  • Safety‑critical skills assessed as competent/not‑yet

✅ critical competencies must be passed

Course Fees · 8‑week programme
Fee ComponentTZS per student
Tuition and instruction550,000
Registration / administration30,000
Skills laboratory / consumables50,000
Internal assessments / examinations30,000
Certification20,000
Clinical / logbook administration20,000
Total Course Fees700,000
💳 Payment terms 1st: 420,000 (registration) 2nd: 280,000 (midpoint)

⚠️ Other costs: accommodation, meals, transport, uniform, PPE, insurance – covered separately.

Graduate Competency Profile & Scope

🎓 A competent support worker can:

  • Assist with personal hygiene & comfort
  • Measure and record vital signs
  • Support feeding, mobility & elimination
  • Recognise and report danger signs
  • Provide basic first aid & emergency response
  • Communicate respectfully & maintain confidentiality

⚕️ Occupational limitations

  • Not a licence to diagnose, prescribe, or perform invasive procedures
  • Works under professional supervision
  • Does not replace regulated health professionals

Certificate: Short Learning Programme in Basic Patient Care & Clinical Support – not a clinical licence.

📌 Quality assurance – qualified trainers, internal/external moderation, skills audits, stakeholder feedback, continuous improvement.
🧰 Essential equipment – CPR manikins, first‑aid kits, bandages, splints, stretchers, wheelchairs, patient beds, thermometers, BP machines, PPE, waste segregation bins, transfer aids.
👨‍🏫 Trainers – registered nurses, clinical officers, medical practitioners, emergency‑care trainers; appropriate trainer–learner ratio.
📋 Practical logbook – each learner records competencies (hand hygiene, PPE, vital signs, patient hygiene, positioning, feeding, waste segregation, first aid). Signed by supervisor.
Proposed weekly implementation (8 weeks)
Week 1 Intro, ethics, communication
Week 2 Infection prevention
Week 3 Hygiene, comfort, bed making
Week 4 Vital signs, observation
Week 5 Nutrition, feeding, elimination
Week 6 Mobility, positioning, transfer
Week 7 First aid & emergency response
Week 8 Waste management & integrated assessment
+ 40 hours supervised clinical / skills practice interwoven