Life care planners and health care providers who work in nursing homes and long-term care residential facilities can benefit from the diverse range of open courseware classes available to them online. Classes can be accessed anywhere, at any time, as long as the student can sign on to the Internet. Courses are offered from institutions like Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health and The Open University. Classes like Managing Long-Term Care Services for Aging Populations, Moral and Ethical Principles in Ned of Life Care, and The Boundaries of Care introduce students to the many different issues involved with life care. From communicating with patients from all kinds of backgrounds to establishing appropriate rules and following the “script,” to setting up a beneficial health care environment, these courses prepare students to transition into the industry more smoothly.

Open courseware classes in life care planning give students realistic insight into the real-life situations and issues that life care givers encounter. Classes also teach skills in managing programs, working with health care information technology systems, understanding the legal issues and policies associated with long-term and end-of-life care, and helping patients make the transition into a nursing home. Because of the open courseware learning platform, health care professionals and health services students are more likely to find the time to learn about the industry and get a background in life care planning.

• Managing Long-Term Care Services for Aging Populations [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health] - Students learn how to set up programs, manage health care services, work with IT systems and more in this course.
• Moral and Ethical Principles in End of Life Care [The Open University] - Topics covered in this course include autonomy, consent, law and consent, incapacity and more.
• Aging and Disability: Transitions into Residential Care [The Open University] - Learn about making transitions, care environments, setting up personal care plans, and other issues affecting patients and residents of nursing homes.
• The Boundaries of Care [The Open University] - This four-hour course helps life care providers understand the limits of their job and the best ways to reach out to their patients.
• Care Relationships [The Open University] - Lessons in this course include “Playing roles together“, “Defining the scene“, “Playing to the script and more“.