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Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children

The work, done properly: safe moving and handling, hygiene and infection control, pressure sores, feeding, medication support, dementia and stroke care, recognising the emergency, and getting paid for it in Nigeria or abroad.

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About this course

Caregiving is one of the few skills that pays at home and travels abroad, and it is also work where a careless hour can injure someone. This course teaches the assistant's role honestly: what a caregiver may and may not do in Nigeria, and where the line to a nurse or doctor sits; safe moving, transferring and positioning that protects both the person and your own back; personal hygiene, continence care and dignity; infection control and hand hygiene; preventing and spotting pressure sores; feeding, hydration and choking risk; supporting prescribed medicines without ever prescribing or adjusting them; caring for people living with dementia, after a stroke, with diabetes or at the end of life; child and newborn care basics; recognising the signs that mean call for help now; record-keeping; the emotional weight of the work and how carers burn out; and the business side, from finding private clients and agencies in Nigeria to what overseas care work actually requires. Every clinical limit is stated plainly, and the course repeatedly sends the learner to a qualified nurse, doctor or trainer rather than pretending a written lesson can replace supervised practice.

A woman of eighty-one in Surulere has had a stroke. Her right side works, her left does not. Her daughter leaves for Ikeja at six and cannot be back before eight at night. So a carer arrives at seven in the morning, and for the next thirteen hours that carer decides how the old woman is washed, how she comes out of bed, whether she drinks enough water, whether the redness on her hip gets looked at, and whether the family hears about a new confusion before or after it turns into an emergency. Nobody in that house is a nurse. The carer is simply the person who is there. This lesson sets out what that job is, what it is worth, where it can lead, and the line inside it you must never cross.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 14 lessons

  1. What a caregiver actually is, and the line you must not cross24 min
  2. The first visit: assessing without judging, and writing the first care plan25 min
  3. Moving, handling and your own back26 min
  4. Hygiene and dignity: washing, mouth care, continence and the permission you ask every single time25 min
  5. Infection control in a real house: hands, gloves, cleaning, laundry, waste and keeping one illness from becoming five31 min
  6. Skin and pressure sores: why they form in hours, and the early sign that is missed on dark skin32 min
  7. Food, fluids and swallowing: eating safely when eating has become dangerous29 min
  8. Medicines support without ever prescribing: the checks, the record and the lines you never cross34 min
  9. Dementia care: the person is still there, and the behaviour is a message29 min
  10. Stroke, diabetes and long-term conditions: supporting the person without managing the disease30 min
  11. Recognising the emergency: the signs that mean act now, and how to actually get help in Nigeria31 min
  12. Newborn and child care basics: safe sleep, feeding, bathing, fever and the decisions that are not yours30 min
  13. End of life, grief and your own wellbeing: comfort, presence, and the carer nobody is caring for30 min
  14. Getting paid and going further: clients, contracts, records, training routes, and the truth about care work abroad35 min

Your project

Your Care Plan and Safety Portfolio

One document (Google Doc, PDF or Word, shared with view access) containing all six parts, with the routine, the skin-check schedule and the escalation plan as tables. No real names or identifying details of any person you care for.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify. See the full project brief, rubric and free workbook →

Frequently asked questions

Is Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children free?

Yes. Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children take to complete?

6 weeks · ~4 hrs/week. There are 14 lessons, about 7 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children?

Beginner-friendly. You can start from scratch — no prior experience is assumed.

What will I learn in Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children?

You will build practical skills in The caregiver's scope of practice and its legal and ethical limits, Safe moving, transferring and positioning without injury, Personal hygiene, bathing, continence care and dignity, Infection prevention and hand hygiene, Pressure sore prevention, recognition and escalation, Feeding, hydration, swallowing and choking risk, Supporting prescribed medicines safely, Dementia, stroke, diabetes and end-of-life care support, Newborn and child care basics, Recognising deterioration and escalating an emergency, Care records and confidentiality, Communication with families and health workers, Carer wellbeing and avoiding burnout, Finding work in Nigeria and understanding overseas care routes. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Caregiving & Home Nursing Assistant: Safe, Skilled Care for Elders, Patients and Children?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Your Care Plan and Safety Portfolio and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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