Vittorio Emanuele II-Ruffini (VE-II) is designing, implementing and coordinating the Italian pilot.
But what is the real scope of the project for VE-II? What kind of repercussions might it really have for the school, the city of Genoa and, why not, the Italian Social and Healthcare sector?
 |
In the European context, Italy appears to be the “oldest country”, as evidenced by all of the main demographic indicators of population with a growing trend of the oldest age groups since the 1970s.
Therefore, the issue of assistance and care for older people needs to be addressed with streamlined health and care services for the older population. |
About Vittorio Emanuele II-Ruffini
 |
Vittorio Emanuele II–Ruffini is a public secondary school located in the very centre of Genoa, which has been providing vocational education in the Social and Health Care sector since the late 1990s to match the labour market requirements, alternating lessons and training periods during the school year to enable students to achieve both theoretical and practical competences. VE-II has been given the opportunity to participate in the CARESS project as a VET provider in the field of Healthcare precisely thanks to its OSS (Health and Social Operator) courses. These courses stem from an agreement signed by the school, the Regional Educational Authority (Liguria Region) and the Local Health Agency (A.LI.SA.) to integrate the last three-year school curriculum with more practical and training activities. The 19-year-old Health and Social Operators, who get a Secondary School diploma along with an OSS diploma, perform a subsidiary role in nursing care (level 4 of the European Qualifications Framework, EQF4) and can work in a wide range of settings: hospitals, rest houses, adult day care centres, patients’ homes, etc. with different roles depending on the specific healthcare setting. |
The implementation of the pilot in Genoa
 |
The school is closely collaborating with Italian partners, especially Liguria Region and GGallery, to carry out the analysis of the needs, to disseminate activities and to improve the current course in compliance with the results of the project. The class chosen to develop the pilot is a 4th-year class including 17 students aged 17 to 18, who have already acquired significant skills and competences in the healthcare sector and have always proved to be highly motivated and interested in learning. They will acquire learning outcomes specifically focused on home healthcare, namely the identification of home environmental health risks and the implementation of protocols for risk protection, an effective use of health aids and devices, the involvement of informal networks and local social and cultural facilities and recreational centres, the implementation of schemes and protocols to detect non self-sufficient patients’ psychophysical requirements in collaboration with other professional figures, the use of ICT tools to record data related to health care treatments, etc. An e-learning platform is being developed to support students with targeted learning materials that, along with a lot of non-formal and informal learning activities, will forge skilled and knowledgeable home healthcare professionals. Activities are being intensely carried out and next autumn Vittorio Emanuele II–Ruffini will host all partners in Genoa to assess the intermediary stage of the pilots and to validate the e-learning modules in relation to the observed outcomes. VE-II with its highly competent and committed staff is ready to rise to the challenge and provide its valuable contribution to tackle the pressing social and health issue of homecare. |