Long-Term Care

Learning Outcomes

Graduates with a concentration in Long-Term Care from UH West Oʻahu will be able to:

• Critical Thinking: Evaluate various situations affecting (encountered in) the long-term care environment and assess how these situations affect the consumer and their health, consistent with long-term care industry standards.
• Oral Communication: Practice effective oral communication skills in long-term care as evaluated by an understanding by consumers of long-term care, caregivers, and providers.
• Writing: Create well-organized, conceptual, writing using relevant information from long-term care through writing research papers and proposals, creating PowerPoint presentations, and developing documents (i.e. fact sheets, marketing plans) to communicate information to consumers, caregivers, and providers, consistent with long-term care industry standards.
• Apply quantitative, technological, and analytical tools and skills to the long-term care environment, including long-term care facilities and community-based organizations, considering different cultures and sub-cultures (i.e. elderly, homeless, Asian-Pacific Islander, and low-income) consistent with long-term care industry standards.
• Apply the principles of long-term care administration/management to international/global/local issues (i.e. diversity and organizational behavior) affecting various long-term care environments, consistent with long-term care industry standards.
• Describe and apply the central concepts of long-term care systems, including management, quality care and risk management, financing and reimbursements, and policies and regulations, to the long-term care environment, consistent with industry standards.
• Assess and justify solutions to problems, policies, and ethical/legal dilemmas within the long-term care environment, creating solutions that are viable according to industry standards.

Internships / Practicums

Potential internships/practicum sites include long-term care facilities (i.e. nursing facilities, sub-acute facilities, and assisted living) and community-based services (i.e. hospice, home care, and adult day care centers). Other potential sites include government agencies (i.e. the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health, the Executive Office on Aging, and the City and County Elder Affairs Division); long-term care advocates (i.e. the Healthcare Association of Hawaiʻi, Meals on Wheels, and Senior Centers, Clubs, and Organizations); and payers of long-term care services (i.e. Medicare and Medicaid providers).

Careers and Earning Potential

Long-Term Care careers are available in both the public and private sectors including nursing and sub-acute facilities, assisted living, elderly housing, hospice, home care, adult day care, and private care and foster homes. In non-clinical administrative positions, salaries vary depending on position, provider, certification/licensing required, and experience in the field.

For more information on careers and earning potential, visit the Hawaiʻi Industry Sectors website.

Student Clubs

A healthcare/long-term care administrator student club is being established at UH West Oʻahu to enhance student learning and provide opportunities to develop leadership skills such as communication, peer and community interaction, work ethics, networking, and teamwork. Slated to begin in Fall 2019, students will have the opportunity to network with healthcare leaders, recent graduates of UH West Oʻahu who currently work in long-term care, and interact with the community of elders, potential users of long-term care services.