Work Practice Review of Geriatric Residential Care Facility

Introduction

I am currently doing my work practice in a geriatric residential care facility , It is a 26 bed dementia care ward split into male and female with two respite beds. the task I will be carrying out is dressing and grooming.

Examples of preparations for a range of work tasks including analysis of why you chose particular approaches or materials for particular situations ?

Preparation

It is important before carrying out care to Mary that I consider health and safety risks , If I need assistants I will ask for it before carrying task, I will be going through the dressing and grooming of my client Mary aged 90  in my work place firstly I let my supervisor know where I am if needed. I then approached Mary with a smile and ask her if she would like to get dressed and ready for breakfast. She said she would , I asked Mary if she would mind me going to her wardrobe to get some cloths for her she agreed, I made sure to take out two outfits that I know Mary likes so she can choose what she would like to wear from them . Mary found great satisfaction in her sense of style throughout her live, pride in appearance is essential to her self-respect. I gathered all Marys personal toiletries that Mary uses every day including her perfume and creams and hair assessors so that I have them ready after Mary is dressed. Before carrying out the task. I make sure the curtains are drawn and that Mary has privacy and is comfortable . I always ask Mary what way she likes her hair and if there is anything that Mary can do for herself I will encourage promoting her to be independent

 I Maintained Marys dignity by ensuring areas that are exposed are covered while I was dressing I covered with a blanket or towel, uncovering only the section of the body that I’m dressing or cleaning.

I created a respectful atmosphere.

Analysis

 The reason I asked. Mary to choose from two outfits was to give her the right to choice over her decisions , I gave her only two choices as Mary lives with dementia and sometimes if I give her more than two choices it confuses her and upsets her as a HCA I must respect the rights and wishes of Mary. I also made sure to let Mary do what she can for herself to promote independence and to respect Mary. I made sure that Mary is covered and curtains are drawn to respect Marys privacy and dignity and that exposed areas are covered at all times. .  I Spoke respectfully and remembered to Practice patience’s and empathy when caring for Mary. The “Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse  - National Policy and Procedures”, which applies to all HSE and HSE funded services, outlines a number of principles to promote the welfare of vulnerable people and safeguard them from abuse https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/socialcare/safeguardingvulnerableadults/

Conclusion?

In my conclusion on the task I realised the importance of choice , dignity , privacy and respect when caring for her , it is important that Mary is comfortable and feels good in herself ,  what I found helpful for helping Mary in the mornings that there is a lovely picture by her bed side table of Mary done up , from this picture I know how she likes her hair and makeup done. I try do this with all the clients if there is a picture up.

Situations where you contributed positively to the organisation both working independently to carry out a range of tasks and challenges which may have arose and how you overcome them.

My main role in my work practice day to day is working as a HCA and looking after the residents in the hospital with all there ADLs, while carrying out these tasks it was recognised by family members and my team members that I am confident in doing the ladies hair this was true as in my past I trained to be a hairdresser.  It was said that by a family member that the way I done her. Mothers hair was fantastic and no one else could get her hair that nice in the hospital because of this I was asked to do her hair for her a family wedding coming up. I was glad that my personal skills where recognised and that they could assist the family in time of need and add my skills to my current career. The family and my supervisor where happy because the lady wouldn’t let anyone else do her hair and the family where happy as their mother looks lovely for the wedding and looked like herself.

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My supervisor requested that I attend an outing with the patience in the water garden. I felt privilege that I was asked to be part of the group going and giving the responsibility to care for the clients in a different surrounding other than in the hospital , I was also happy as I would gain more experience and also get to see how the clients benefit from social group outings. Because I have a great interest in gardening I was able to name all the flowers for the clients that I came on the outings and it was great chatting to them going around the garden and be able to give them information on the different flowers.

I have so much interest in the health service and caring for the clients and the condition dementia more than anything in practically as I am doing my work placement in a dementia ward, So much so I asked could I do a day experience with the group understand together to meet people living with dementia in the early stages and how they feel and how they manage their condition in the early stages , for example what helps and what doesn’t and how they feel other people see them but not only that how there family members feel as they are part of the group which makes it such a great support group.

Conclusion

When I reflect on my own role and how I work day to day from my first day in work placement to now I am happy with the way I’m progression and how much experience I’m gaining every day. The feedback that I receive from my work placement is outstanding and I’m always thanked for the work I do and feel appreciated and any feedback I receive is giving positivity and received positively even if it is constructive criticism so I can gain information and learn correct procedures .I feel I work well in the everyday environment in the hospital setting but I feel I am also very flexible and when asked to go on outings and carry out tasks not in the day to day routine that at first I was nervous but when carrying out my tasks I enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. I also really enjoyed speaking to the clients in the support group Understand Together and see how they felt in the early stage and how much they understand there condition. I felt that when you show interest in the workplace you gain a lot of respect and help from the supervisor.

Reflection on own role and responsibilities to include feedback from supervisor/mentor on personal performances, achievements and challenges.

Gibbs’ (1988) reflective cycle is a popular model for reflection. In this assignment I’m going to use this in assignment work placement review.

A healthcare assistant, also known as an HCA, plays a vital role in caring for people. They can make a real difference to someone’s quality of life. In a healthcare assistant role, you’re likely to carry out a number of duties from helping to feed and wash a patient, assist with testing urine or blood to perform ECG’s (with training).

My role of the health care assistant is to work with the all the clients ADLs , when carrying out the ADLS of the clients it’s important to take into account the privacy, dignity, and respecting the clients. It is also important to  take into consideration the policies of the hospital and the HSE. It is important to be able to work as part of a team and be reliable , flexible and be trained to carry out your tasks safely. This is most important when it comes to manual handling , Health and safety. The HCA most always work within its scope and be trained to carry out task and confident.

HCA must be considerate for the clients some important  qualities a HCA holds is good at time keeping , reliable , caring, self-awareness , respectful, kind, flexible.

Feedback

The term ‘feedback’ is used to describe helpful information or constructive criticism about past actions or behaviours from  individuals in the workplace, communicated to individuals (or a group) who can use that information to improve  past and future work ethics and behaviours. Feedback can actually motivate employees to work better. Employees like to feel valued and appreciate being asked to provide feedback that can help. And feedback from client,  employees , visitors , and managers can be used to motivate to build better working relations and better work environment.

Conclusion

In my conclusion it is important to feel valued and appreciated in the work placement, Feedback that is constructive is vital to employees' ongoing development.  It Promotes Employee reliability and productive work environment.

A review of personal and professional learning which identifies strengths and weaknesses, and learning and career opportunities within the vocational field of your choice and the work practice organisation.

Personal Strengths

• Reliable : I feel I can be relied on I always turn up for work and I’m always there for a job when needed
• Personal Presentation : I feel it is important to me to look presentable and I feel this shows in how I present myself this reflects on the hospital when staff a presentable and clean.
• Punctional: It is important to be on time and be there to relieve other staff from there shift and also to be on time for handover , good time management is important
• Patience: I feel it is important to be understanding and not to rush a client that may have poor mobility , it is important to encourage them and help only when needed it is important for me to be patience and I think it is important for all HCA to be.

Personal Weakness

• Confrontation:  Sometimes family members can get upset as they may be upset over there loved ones condition and might not be dealing with it , it is important to be understanding also though sometimes I find this hard. Dementia sufferers sometimes get angry or scared when confused , this sometimes causes them to shout it is important to remain calm. I feel as I am gaining more experience I’m learning to work on this weakness.
• Finding it hard to say no: on work placement its always important to me to make a good impression and to be helpful but sometimes when I’m called upon my a number of people I find it hard to say no and feel burnt out by the end of the day , as I progress throughout my time in work placement I’m finding ways to say I’m in the m idle of a job but can get to it after rather than multi-tasking or taking on too much.
• I focus too much on detail: I focus too much on detail that sometimes I find it might take me longer to achieve my goal , for example if I’m doing Marys makeup and hair I would try get the hair to perfection and make up a bit longer to get it right but then realising Mary had to be up in the dining room by a certain time for her tea or I might be needed for another task elsewhere, time management is important the more I gain experience the more I’m learning to manage task correctly.

Skills I would like to develop

I have a great interest in dementia and understanding it more I feel this is because I am doing my work placement in the dementia ward , because of showing so much interest in this area I was put on  a level one understand dementia course with the HSE and I  am already looking to do the level 2 in the future so I can progress in this area as I feel this condition is more common as people are living longer and there is a need for a better understanding and educating with in the health care service on the condition.  I feel that in the next five years I would like to be working within the HSE , I would like to progress as much as I can in the health care area. I also have a great interest in mental health , I feel this is another area in Ireland where there is a much needed awareness and I feel as our changing economy develops that there is a need for a better awareness and education this area.

Bibliography

https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/socialcare/safeguardingvulnerableadults/

Accessed 1 December 2019

https://www.ncn.ie/images/ReflectiveCycleGibbs.pdf

Accessed 3 December 2019

https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/5-reasons-feedback-important/

Accessed 12 December 2019