I work in a nursing home in Ontario, and the DOC will not hire any health care worker without a psw certificate. There has been too many injuries between the workers and the patients and lack of experience. So now, most places do expect u to get the proper training in school and to have a psw certificate. A couple of girls who had worked at the nursing home here for many yrs, before there was even "PSW's", was asked to do the psw program so they had their certificate. But the "top" employer did pay for them to go......I find that more and more of these facilities are pushing for the girls to have a psw certificate anymore...