Updated April 13th, 2021

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, QBS has made temporary modifications to training      standards, certification standards, and training schedule. Our goal is to provide flexibility,              support, and safety for our Safety-Care users and those they serve in this difficult time.

Important Links:

- Safety-Care® Infection Control Precautions for Trainer Trainings
- Safety-Care® Infection Control Precautions for Specialist Training
- Safety-Care® Infection Precautions for Physical Management

Special Certification Extension has been Granted

Any specialist or trainer who was active or in their grace period as of March 1, 2020, is                      eligible for a special extension of their certification (extension details below). During this            extension, they continue to be certified and are authorized to use the parts of Safety-Care                       that they were certified in (and teach if they are trainers).

Once a specialist or trainer recertifies, he or she returns to the regular certification period                        (12 months plus 3-month grace period). If a trainer or specialist was past his or her 12-month recertification date plus a 3-month grace period prior to 3/1/2020, he or she was expired at                    the time the emergency occurred and will need to re-take an initial class.

Note: By continuing to use Safety-Care skills (and teaching them, in the case of                                certified trainers) beyond the anniversary date, under the modified compliance and                          training standards, there is an increased risk of injury.

QBS will not be responsible for injury occurring on account of the modification of standards.

We strongly recommend that anyone past the usual 12-month certification period is                          recertified as soon as possible.

If regulatory or legal standards applicable to the organization require a more frequent            recertification cycle, then those standards supersede and take precedence over QBS standards.

Special Extension Details – Determining Your Due Date

Any specialist or trainer who was active or in their grace period as of March 1, 2020, is                      eligible for an extension of their certification. Certification ends on June 14, 2021, OR if a specialist/trainer’s last certification period began 24 months ago. 

Grace Period

There is no additional grace period beyond the current extension period. Specialist and trainer certifications have already been extended by up to 12 months. Research shows that trainer and    specialist skills degrade over time, so no further extensions will be granted.

Maintenance of Skills

It is expected that any trainer or specialist who is past 1 year from initial training or most recent recertification and may be called upon to make use of Safety-Care physical skills, receive              additional practice and support to assist with maintaining critical Safety-Care skills. That can            include small group in-person practice, review of Safety-Care videos, in-person demonstration                of Safety-Care skills, or other relevant activities. QBS is providing additional resources that can               be used to assist in this process.

Modified In-Person / Remote Training

We have recommendations for infection control precautions to use when conducting                                  in-person specialist training at this link.

Specialist initial or recertification training may be conducted by presenting the curriculum          remotely. If so, training is conducted via live (not recorded) two-way audiovisual connection         between the trainer and each trainee throughout the training. Standard trainer to trainee                  ratios must be followed (1:10, 2:20). 

Physical and verbal competencies may be demonstrated, but not tested, during the online              training. Following remote training, the trainer can meet with trainees 1:1 or in groups                               to demonstrate competencies (if necessary) and test them. The regular Safety-Care errorless            teaching procedure is used (in person) and the usual standards for completion of each                    competency still apply. Role-Plays can also be done 1:1 or in small groups.

Testing of physical procedures that require contact must be done with another person                             (not with a mannequin, in pantomime, etc.).

Safety-Care Modules

The same standards as above also apply to Safety-Care modules, except as noted below.

The lecture portions of the School-Age Children module can be trained remotely.                  Unfortunately, the Advanced Skills module requires in-person training. Agencies that                              are currently training High Severity 1 or 2 and have not updated to the Advanced Skills                    Module may continue to do so until further notice.

The first two sessions of Safety-Care for Families can be trained via live, two-way                                audiovisual connection, skipping competencies (which can be marked as restrictions or                    trained in person later).

Since trainer training in Safety-Care for Families is done online, there are no modifications                       to certification periods for trainers.

Abbreviating the Curriculum

Under the COVID-19 Compliance Standards, it is possible to train specialists only in lecture               portions of the curriculum. All competencies would be listed as a restriction. Specialists are                   not certified to use any skills that are listed as a restriction, even if they were previously                      certified in those skills. Restrictions can be lifted at any time within the certification year.                        For more information on abbreviating the curriculum, restrictions, or removing restrictions,                   refer to p. 7-9 in the April 2019 Compliance Standards.

FAQs

We have families who are unable to leave the house at this time. Are we able to offer                                           any part of the training to them virtually? 

No part of standard Safety-Care may be trained to families. Certified trainers can                              become certified as Safety-Care for Families trainers and provide remote or in-person                      training to families and others providing support in home or home-like settings. See the                        QBS website for schedule and information.

How should virtual training of specialists be documented?

Physical and verbal competencies may be demonstrated, but not tested during the                                online training. At the end of the virtual training, the specialists have been trained in                                   the lecture portions of the curriculum.  Specialists are not trained or recertified in                        competencies until they have demonstrated them in person.

It’s OK to add these trainings to Trainer Connect. You can leave the training open and                          finalize them after you have completed the training in person. If you need to finalize the                          training for certification purposes, you can do that, documenting competencies as restrictions.                    You can remove restrictions through in-person training at a later time (see p. 7 of the Compliance Standards).

How long do we have from the first day of remote presentation to meeting with and                                  checking people off for competency? 

At this time, there is no time limit between the first day and the last day of the training.                          Keep in mind that if there is an extended break between sessions, a review must be                      completed (Compliance Standards April 2019, p. 6).

What other resources does QBS have for families during this time? We are not trained                                          in Safety-Care for Families.

QBS has many blog posts on our website that can be helpful to families. Our YouTube                          channel has many videos that families can watch. You do not need to be trained in                                    Safety Care to read and view these resources. More content will be added to our blogs                                and the YouTube channel. QBS will announce updates to the blogs and our YouTube                              channel via social media. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get                                    these updates.

Blog posts can be found here: https://www.qbs.com/blog-news/

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgqmPrsXXIm72MFKV110pw

What other resources does QBS have for trainers and specialists during this time?

QBS has many blog posts on our website that can help trainers and specialists. Our                                YouTube channel has many videos that are great resources for trainers and specialists.                                You do not need to be trained in Safety Care to read and view these resources, so these                                can be shared with any staff member at your agency. More content will be added to our                                blogs and the YouTube channel. QBS will announce updates to the blogs and our YouTube                          channel via social media. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get                                  these updates.

Blogs can be found here: https://www.qbs.com/blog-news/

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgqmPrsXXIm72MFKV110pw

Trainers can view recorded versions of Safety-Care live sessions on Trainer Connect.                                      Some topics are relevant only to trainers (e.g. setting up role plays).  Some topics                                    include reviews of physical safety or physical management procedures, de-escalation, etc.                      and would be appropriate for specialists and trainers.  Trainers can use these videos during                  their review sessions with specialists.

We started the training but didn’t finish it, because of closure or stay-at-home                                                       orders.  What should we do?

In this case, it may be best to certify the staff with restrictions.  They will need to take the                          written test for the sections of the curriculum that were completed.  Enter the information                      into Trainer Connect.  Anything not completed would be a restriction.  Those restrictions                          can be lifted later. 

Is it acceptable for trainees to be certified in physical procedures without touching anyone (using a mannequin, by demonstrating at a distance, or by video demonstration)?

No. We understand concerns about physical contact, but we don’t think it is possible to properly       teach anyone how to use potentially risky physical procedures without contact.

All competencies must be demonstrated with the trainer and trainee in the same room.                          Any competency that involves physical contact must be demonstrated in the manner they                       are used, with physical contact. There are a few competencies in the core curriculum that                        do not require physical contact: Differential Reinforcement, Safety Stance, De-Escalation,                      and role-plays. All others require contact. Within the School Age Children module, the Setting Expectations competency does not require contact. All other Safety-Care competencies                      require contact for certification.

Why can’t we do the verbal competencies online?

We are not allowing virtual competency checks of the verbal competencies because we’ve                     tried it out and are not confident that trainers will be able to teach these procedures to a                  sufficiently high level of fidelity. It is possible to pretend to use differential reinforcement                         or de-escalation over an online connection, but we think the trainee is likely to not fully                       understand the procedure and that these critically important skills would then generalize                            poorly to actual application. Talking to a screen and watching a talking head respond is,                                we think, too dissimilar to the actual implementation of these skills. Please note that it is                            certainly not necessary to touch anyone in order to demonstrate either of these procedures.                        Differential Reinforcement can, of course, be done standing a few feet from the individual.                           De-Escalation can be done using Safety Stance (no touch) or the shadowed version of                               Elbow Check (no touch).