Reflection on Relationships That Develop in Care Work

Effective reflection on relationships that develop in care work

Day 1

Description:

When I started my first 2 days work placement I was working with “Shea” he is a HCA who has been working there for 6 months. He was has been working there on a CE scheme and loved his job “Shea” brought me around with him and showed me how the things where run on a daily basis and I got to put my theory into practice.

Feelings:

As I had never assisted a patient with their personal care before I felt a bit nervous and unsure but I found I learned a lot from observing and helping “Shea” in completing the tasks. I felt very nervous about starting work experience as I had never worked in a care position before and I only had a limited experience in working with the elderly. And after I finished my first two days placement I found that I really enjoyed the working in this area.

Evaluation:

When working alongside “Shea” I felt he was a very good worker who has great empathy towards patients and staff. He really helped me get on my feet working as a HCA and made me feel very welcome.

Analysis:

When I first started my work experience I did feel a bit nervous about helping patients with personal care but with practice over a period of time and with “Shea’s” help and the guidance of other staff members I was starting to feel more confident in assisting the patients with personal care.

Conclusion:

What pleased me was how nice “Shea” was and how he cared for the patients and he really seemed to like working in St. Johns. Every patient has different needs and different interests and each patient has very different care needs. The only thing I was unhappy about was my nervousness around assisting patients with personal care but I feel a lot more confident in this area now.

Action plan:

Description:

Over a period of time I got to know one of the patients called “Mick” he is 82 years of age and he has been in St. Johns for 9 months. “Mick” suffers with dementia. He used to live at home with his wife but know he has to live in the nursing home. “Mick” is independently mobile and has a very pleasant manner. His daily activities in St. John’s Hospital include walking and tending to the chickens in the garden. But he can also have days where he can get confused. When this happens I ask “Mick” if he would like to go for a walk or even just to sit down and have a chat with him.

Feelings:

Over time I have built up a friendship with “Mick” and I feel very empathic towards him as he can sometimes get confused and frustrated due to his memory loss. When this happens he tends to want to get out to his car and go home. “Mick” is quite competent in that he can dress, wash and feed himself independently. However he can have bad days where he needs assistance especially if he is anxious, disorientated and is finding it hard to concentrate.

Evaluation:

The good experience about meeting “Mick” is that I got to know loads about him and his life as a farmer. And I also learned how to help and care for “Mick” when he becomes anxious, disorientated and confused and asks constantly to go home.

Analysis:

I got to know “Mick” well since I started work experience and I have witnessed “Mick” becoming very confused, anxious and disorientated and when this happens I offer to take him to the to the garden where he tends to the chicken.  I then chat to him about things that I know he likes to talk about and reassure him everything was okay and this helps him relax and feel more content

Conclusion:

In my opinion “Mick” should be encouraged to take part in more activities that he may choose himself throughout the day as these activities may keep his mind more occupied. I also think that if possible maybe discussions could be held with “Micks” family to allow him to go home even for just for a few hours once a month.

Action plan:

Description:

I have a very positive relationship built with my head nurse “Hannah” I find that she has a very pleasant manner and she has been very helpful in showing me the right way to do things. She also taught me how to do things in in a safe and correct manner for example how to take a patients’ blood pressure and blood sugars and recording them correctly.

Feelings:

I felt very confident whilst working alongside “Hannah” because she gave me guidance and this has made me feel a lot more competent as a HCA. Also I am happy working with her because she is very understanding and when I don’t quite understand something she is happy to explain it to me.

Evaluation:

The best thing about working with “Hannah” is that she has lots of experience working in a caring position and is very competent at her job so therefore her advice and guidance is very valuable to me as it will help me to become a great HCA in the future. And as extremely busy as “Hannah” is she always tries her best to give her time to me. And she always made me feel very welcome.

Analysis:

From what I have experienced in working with “Hannah” I found that she is a very competent in what she does. And over time as I continue to work with her I will gain a great deal of knowledge and skills from her that can bring with me in my future as a HCA.

Conclusion:

Even though I have learned a lot from her I feel I could be less dependent on “Hannah” now and make choices by myself whilst caring for patients. I will of course consult with her over important things. I feel that now I can use the important knowledge she has given me to care for patients on my own as I feel more competent in myself rather than waiting for “Hannah” so as not to let my patients have to wait.

Action plan:

Day 4

Description:

I have a very positive relationship built with my head nurse “Hannah” I find that she has a very pleasant manner and she has been very helpful showing me the right way to do things teaching me how to do things in in a safe and timely manner such as how to take patients’ blood pressure blood sugars

Feelings:

I felt a lot more confidant by working alongside “Hannah” because she gave me guidance and made me feel a lot more competent as a HCA because she is very understanding and when I don’t quite understand something she is happy to explain it to me.

Evaluation:

The best thing about working with “Hannah” is that she had lots more experience than most HCAs as this would really help me gain more experience as a HCA. And as extremely busy as “Hanna” is she always tries her best to give her time to me. She always made me feel very welcome.

Analysis:

From what I can make of working with “Hannah” is that she is a very competent in what she does. And over time I will gain a great deal of knowledge that can he me in my future as a HCA.

Conclusion:

I feel I could be less dependent on “Hannah” now and make choices and do things on my own as I feel more competent in myself rather than waiting for “Hannah” so as not to let patients down.

Action plan:

Day 5

Description:

I have a good relationship with a patient called “Ned” who suffers from dementia. He has only been in St. John’s for 5 months and he is not very happy to be living there. “Ned” seems to be very home sick and confused about where he is and can become very anxious and upset. “Ned’s” short term memory loss is affected so he cannot remember where he is and why he is a resident in the hospital. He sadly also cannot remember when his family visits and thinks nobody comes to visit him.

Feelings:

I feel very empathetic towards “Ned” as he seems to be so discontent with living at the hospital. I feel sad for “Ned” as he longs to be at home with his family and cannot remember when they visit so he must feel very lonely. Despite his confusion, disorientation and anxiety “Ned” never becomes aggressive and remains a gentleman at all times. I feel happy that when I spend time with him and listen to his stories about the past he seems to be content and the distraction seems to offer him some relief from his anxieties.

Evaluation:

The best thing about caring for “Ned” was that he is a gentleman who can relay great stories about his life and the good times he experienced. I feel good that by me taking my time just to listen to his stories his mood seems to pick up and this will make him have a better day. The disadvantage about working with “Ned” was that his difficulties with accepting his residence in the hospital can be difficult to experience; but I feel that by explaining the situation to him and offering him a distraction by changing the topic of conversation I can alleviate some of his anxiety.

Analysis:

I feel that while in my present work experience I am doing as much as I can to help “Ned” settle into his new residence in the hospital by explaining the situation to him and talking to him about topics that interest him. However, I feel that if I was employed as a HCA in the hospital I would report to my supervisor that more plans would need to be made in order for “Ned” to be supported in settling better in the hospital.

Conclusion:

I feel that I could maybe become more familiar with Ned and I could find out about his likes and dislikes and by doing so find more ways to make him feel more at home and also use this information to find new ways to calm him down when he gets very anxious.

Action plan:

In the future I plan to get to know my patients well and try figure out the triggers for their anxiety so as to prevent and deescalate highly anxious outbursts which are not good for the patients themselves and also the staff caring for them.

Clear identification of interpersonal issues that can arise in care work such as recognising diversity and individuality in clients, families and care workers

Day 1

Day2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

An interpersonal issue that came up in my work experience was with a patient called ‘Mary’ who is obsessed with country music and wants to listen to it all the time. In the activity room she repeatedly asks us to play country music on the CD player. However, the rest of the patients in the activity room prefer to listen to Irish music and this can cause arguments in the activity room during the day. So in order to keep the peace I have to explain that everyone gets a choice of what music to put on and that everyone has to take turns. So I then started a game that they all seem to enjoy where I ask each patient what music they want to listen to and while I play this music ask them to tell a story that the music reminds them of. The patients really seem to enjoy this game and it has also stopped any tensions building in the activity room. Some patients love to tell stories while others love to just listen to the music and enjoy hearing the stories. This experience has thought me how to deal with a situation where patient’s individualities clash and how to think of ideas that will enable all the patients to participate in activities. It has also helped me to think of ideas of ways to encourage different patients to socially interact with each other when they usually do not.

Effective reflection on own interpersonal skills and personal effectiveness as a care worker and highlight personal strengths and weaknesses

Day1

Description

On my first day first day of work experience I was very nervous so I was not as effective in completing my work as I would have liked to be. The whole caring role was all very new to me and as I was dealing with real people I found this very daunting. As a result of this nervousness I was not able to be as effective at my work as I should have been.

Feelings

My feeling about my first day was that I was disappointed with myself because I was afraid I would make mistakes or do something wrong, when in fact this should not have been the case as I was only learning and just needed more time to get more comfortable in the position. And in future in my work experience I would not hold back as I know I am under the supervision of other more experienced HCA and that they are there to support me when I am not sure of what I have to do.

Evaluation

As the day went on I really started to find my bearings and I found I enjoyed it a lot more and felt more comfortable in my role caring for patients. I started to have conversations with the patients and staff and found myself starting to come out of my shell. And as I got to know a lot more about the routine and work of the ward on my first day I knew the next today I wouldn’t be half as nervous as I was on my first day.

Analysis

What I have taken with me from my first day working on the ward is that anything that I try for the first time is going to be a challenge. However I just need to recognise my nervousness as normal and deal with it. As I am working with a lot of vulnerable and elderly people that depend on me to care for them I know in future to be confident and offer the best care I can. And if I am unsure I should not feel nervous as I am under supervision and have lots of support.

Conclusion

I feel that when it comes down to it feeling nervous on my first day was a normal feeling. And in the future I now know that there will be someone there to supervise me and teach me how to do things the right way.

Action Plan

Day 2

Description

Today while on my work experience I was assisting patients with eating there dinner in the dining room of the hospital. As I was making my way out of the dining room with one of the patients I noticed that one of the other patients had not eating his food and did not look very happy. After I helped the patient I was with to the activity room I returned to the patient and asked him if everything was ok. He told me that he did not feel well today so I helped him back to his bed and found a nurse to assess him who then called a doctor as he had a very high temperature.

Feelings

I feel that I handled this situation very well as I found that even though I was assisting one patient with feeding and helping him to return to the activity room I was still also aware and observing the other patients in the room to ensure their needs were being met. This is not something I would have been able to do when I first started work experience. I also think that I handled the situation as well as I could as I got the bottom of the patient’s problem, I made him comfortable and found my supervisor to get him the care he required.

Evaluation

I am enjoying that I am now becoming more confident and efficient in my role as a HCA. I feel that the more time I spend in my work experience I am learning the correct procedures to follow when I experience issues with patients. And I am also happy that I am getting better at assisting and keeping an eye on a few patients at the same time.

Analysis

On reflection I showed good interpersonal skills by noticing that one of the patients I was caring for was not in great form and I also demonstrated good interpersonal skills by making the patient comfortable while I called for assistance. I demonstrated my personal effectiveness as a care worker by handling the situation professionally and with confidence.

Conclusion

In conclusion I am becoming more confident in the role and I am also more effective at making decisions in my work relating to patient care.

Action Plan

Day3

Description

Today I helped my supervisor Claire to do blood pressure readings on all the patients on the ward. Firstly, Claire showed me how to take the readings and how to record them correctly. Then I got the opportunity to take readings by myself and record them.

Feelings

I felt good about learning a new skill and I also felt confident that I was well able to do this task correctly and efficiently. I felt that my strengths in completing this task were that I was able to listen to instruction from Claire and learn from her very quickly so that I was confident enough to complete the task myself.

Evaluation

I enjoyed learning this new skill and I also enjoyed going around to all the patients and having a little chat with them while I was doing it. I think I showed good interpersonal skills by learning this new skill from Claire and by making the patients at ease with a little bit of chit chat while I took their readings.

Analysis

By learning to take patients’ blood pressure readings I have become more aware of the importance of taking these readings regularly to monitor the patients to ensure that their blood pressure does not get too high or too low. I also learned a new skill that will be important for me as a HCA in the future.

Conclusion

I feel that I am good at learning new skills and this will be important to me as a HCA. I also feel that my ability to chat away to the patients while I am taking their readings helps them to stay at ease and also demonstrates my effectiveness as a care worker.

Action Plan

Day4

Description

When I first started on work experience I didn’t feel comfortable assisting a patient who is non mobile with toileting as I did not feel comfortable using the hoist. So when this patient asked to use the toilet I had to call other HCA’s to do it. However, now I am a lot more confident and I just have to call another HCA to assist me with the hoist.

Feelings

I feel that I may have been a bit nervous at first about using the hoist even though we had learned how to use it correctly in class I still felt a bit more nervous using it with a real patient. However, now I am a lot more confident in using the hoist correctly and with ensuring the maximum comfort for the patient.

Evaluation

While I may have demonstrated my weaknesses at first by being nervous about using the hoist I think I dealt with it well by asking for assistance instead of carrying on with the task even though I was unsure. Also I am very confident with using the hoist now as I have gained a lot of experience using it. I only need another HCA to assist me as required for safety reasons.

Analysis

What made me happy about this situation is that my confidence is building in my ability to be a good HCA as I build and improve my care skills.

Conclusion

While I may have felt uncomfortable in my ability to assist the patient using a hoist in the beginning I handled the situation correctly and professionally. I also gained a lot more confidence in using a hoist since I started work experience.

Action Plan

I plan to continue to learn new skills and to build my confidence in my work as a HCA. I also plan to continue to call for assistance if I am unsure of how to deal with a situation while I am caring for patients.

Day 5

Description

While I was in my work experience today I came across two patients who were not getting on very well. What I could get from the situation was that one patient wanted to sit quietly and listen to music; while the other patient was insisting on chatting loudly in her ear. Tensions were starting to rise and both patients were beginning to shout at each other and become very anxious. In order to alleviate the situation I assisted one patient out of the area to leave the other patient in peace to listen to her music.

Feelings

I feel that I handled this situation well as I alleviated the tension immediately by helping one patient away from the situation so that tensions did not rise further. I also feel that I got a good understanding of the situation quickly and this demonstrates my good interpersonal skills.

Evaluation

I feel that I dealt with this situation correctly, efficiently and professionally so as to ensure that both patients were safe and as comfortable as possible and I feel this demonstrates my effectiveness as a care worker.

Analysis

What I have taken from my situation is that the best way to deal with a situation like this is to remain calm and get to the bottom of the situation quickly and alleviate the tension as quickly as possible. I have also learned that I have a great ability to think calmly and remain calm in a highly anxious situation.

Conclusion

I feel that I acted correctly and professionally in this situation so that both patients were giving the opportunity to remove themselves from a stressful situation and calm down. I acted as as calmly as I could to ensure I did not escalate the situation.

Action Plan

I will continue to learn how to professionally deal with the different situations that will present themselves to me in my work as a HCA.

Observations on the experience of receiving guidance and direction, and giving and receiving feedback

Day1

Description:

My supervisor Claire spent time teaching me how to take patients’ blood pressure readings and record them correctly. We spent the morning going around to the patients on the ward taking their blood pressure and Claire took her time to show me how to do this correctly.

Feelings:

I felt that this was a great opportunity to learn a new skill that I will use in my future as a healthcare worker. I felt happy that Claire was very patient with me when teaching me this new skill and she allowed me take a few patients bloods pressure readings by myself while she observed me.

Evaluation:

I felt very happy to learn this new skill and I also feel that I am good at taking blood pressure readings. Spending time learning this new skill has made me more confident in my ability to learn news skill in the healthcare support area.

Analysis:

Learning this skill has made me want to learn more skills in relation to healthcare and looking after the elderly. I am also happy to have a supervisor who is patient and takes her time to give me the experience I need to help me be a good carer in the future.

Conclusion:

What pleased me was how quickly I was able to learn this new skill and how efficient I was in doing it after just one morning. The only thing that I was unhappy about was that I couldn’t learn another new skill afterwards.

Action plan:

Now that I know how to take patient’s blood pressure readings I plan to try to get the opportunity to help out in this area when possible during my work experience. I also plan to learn as much new skills as possible that will enable me to be a great health care worker in the future.

Day2

Description:

A healthcare assistant that I work with in St. John’s is called Shea and he gave me great guidance in how I should help patients with personal care such as washing and dressing. Shea took his time to help me learn these skills I will require in caring for patients with regard to assisting them with personal care needs.

Feelings:

Before receiving this guidance from Shea I felt awkward in assisting patients with their personal care needs. However, now that Shea has offered me assistance I now feel more confidence in assisting patients with their washing and dressing. I also feel good about learning these skills from Shea as I feel that he is a very competent carer and is well liked by the patients he cares for.

Evaluation:

Shae has thought me a lot about caring for elderly patients and how to do so with treating the patients with the utmost dignity and respect. Shea has helped me overcome my nervousness around assisting patients with personal care tasks and I feel a lot more confident that I can offer my patients good care.

Analysis:

Learning to overcome by nervousness with assisting patients with washing and dressing has improved my confidence in my work as a healthcare assistant. I also find it great that I learned from someone that I see as a great care assistant.

Conclusion:

What pleased me was that I have increased my confidence in assisting patients with personal care and I feel this will greatly improve the quality of care I can provide to the people I care for. I am also putting together the theory we have learned in class with the practical experience I am getting in my work experience and this is helping me to carry out my work correctly and efficiently. The only thing that I was unhappy about was that I should have been more confident to begin with in this area but I did find it difficult at first.

Action plan:

Day 3

Description:

When I first began my work experience my supervisor took the time to show me how to assist patients with feeding. This included how to add thickeners to food for patients who required it and how to use adaptive cups. She also showed me how to check on the various patients charts so that I am aware of any dietary requirements for each patient such as patients needing diabetic meals or gluten free meals. And also how to check the charts to determine which patients required thickeners to be added to their meals or needing to use an adaptive cups.

Feelings:

At the beginning I felt that this information was a lot to take in and I was nervous because I did not want to cause any of the patients to choke or to make them ill by giving them a meal that was not suitable for them. However my supervisor was very patient with me and took her time to explain it all.

Evaluation:

.At first I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the information but once I got used to the feeding schedule and reading patients charts I feel quite confident with feeding patients I feel that my supervisor took her time with me and was patient and stayed with me until I felt confident completing the task. I also feel that I did my best to ensure that I took in all the information and understood exactly what I needed to do before I told my supervisor I was happy to assist patients with feeding alone.

Analysis:

In this situation I learned a vital skill that I will require as a HCA and I feel that I did my best to completely understand what I needed to do whilst assisting patients with feeding. I also received feedback from my supervisor that she thought I done a great job with picking up this new skill and that she was confident to allow me to continue to feed patients unsupervised.

Conclusion:

I learned another new skill that will be of vital importance to me as a HCA in the future, I feel I did very well in learning this new skill.

Action plan:

Day 4

Description:

During my work experience I assisted some of the patients who enjoy gardening to plant flowers in a raised planting box. We filled it with soil and took the time to plant some nice colourful flowers in it. This also gave the patients the opportunity to reminisce about their own gardens at home and times they spent tending to them. My supervisor called me aside later in the day and said that I had done a great job on the flower bed and that the patients who had helped me really enjoyed it.

Feelings:

I felt happy to be appreciated by my supervisor. I also felt happy that the patients had enjoyed the activity so much. I felt happy as I also really enjoyed taking the time to do it and it also gave me the opportunity to talk to the patients and get to know them more.

Evaluation:

I received great feedback from my supervisor and this has built my confidence in my ability to be a great HCA. And it was also great that both myself and the patients enjoyed the activity.

Analysis:

In this situation I learned to think outside the norm for activities that will entertain the patients and offer them some different activities they can do. And these activities can allow them to be so much more content and happy.

Conclusion:

I did well in this situation and received great feedback from my supervisor and the patients. I completed an activity that I enjoyed and that the patients found great that was not on the usual activities timetable.

Action plan:

Day 5

Description:

Claire my supervisor showed me the correct procedures assisting a patient with showering. The patient we were assisting to shower was not that happy about showering. Claire took the time to show me exactly what to do. As it was my first time showering a patient I felt a small bit awkward and nervous.

Feelings:

I felt awkward and nervous assisting the patient with showering. However Claire took her time to show me exactly how I needed to help and this made me feel more at ease.

Evaluation:

I think it was normal to feel a bit nervous and awkward in my first experience in assisting a patient. But I think I done well and will continue to build my confidence in assisting patients with showering.

Analysis:

Once I get over my initial nervousness around assisting patients with showering and gain more experience in doing so I will be more confident and professional in carrying out the task

Conclusion:

I learned a new skill and while I am not completely confident at it I will continue to do it and build my confidence in doing so.

Action plan:

To continue to gain experience in assisting patients with washing so that I can build my confidence and professionalism in carrying out the task. Whilst also maintaining the patients privacy and dignity at all times.

Detailed evidence of expertise in range of interpersonal care work skills and procedures for safeguarding privacy and dignity of clients and caring for client’s property

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

On this day I was with a client who really loved her music but couldn’t get the CD player to work. She seemed to get very upset and thought that the CD player was broken and I thought by the way she was banging her cd player and cd’s she may cause damage to them. She had a big collection of CD, s and loved to listen to it during the day as she found this very relaxing so would be very upset if anything happened to them. But in her anxious state she was likely to break them. For but for some reason she couldn’t get them to play and her humour was very irate when I came across her. I sat with her and asked her what the problem was and if she wanted me to try to fix the CD player, which she did. Once I got the music playing her mood lifted immediately and she was very happy. Here I demonstrated my expertise in caring for a client’s property.

Day 4:

On this morning I was assisting a patient with shaving, washing and dressing. I started by asking the patient if he minded me helping him which he replied that yes it was fine. I then pulled the curtains across on both side of his bed so as to maintain is dignity and privacy while he was undressing and getting washed. I also asked his permission to help him with each task so that he remained in control of his own care at all times. I asked him about his preferences where possible and I also chatted to him while we carried out the tasks to ensure that he was content at all times.

Day 5:

On this day I was caring for a patient who was very upset and crying because he didn’t think he needed to be living in the hospital and he wanted to be at home with his wife. He got very upset in the dining room just after dinner so I asked him if he would like to go to a separate room to talk about what was bothering him. He was happy to do so, so I assisted him over to a quiet room and sat down with him and listened to what he had to say. He told me how he really missed his wife and his home. I told him that everything would be okay and that I would get the head nurse too ring his wife so he could talk to her and see if maybe she could come up to see him that evening. I then asked him if he wanted to go out for a walk in the garden to chat some more. I think this really helped him as he seemed to be in a much better mood once we got out to the garden. We were in the garden about 10 minutes when his wife came out too see him and I could see how much he really missed her and he thanked me for taking the time to sit down and talk with him. I safeguarded the patients dignity in this situation as I offered him some privacy away from other patients and staff while he was upset and I think he appreciated this as it gave him the opportunity to calm down out of view of others.

An Understanding of the structure of the health service in Ireland  and legislation governing the care of a person in residential care

Situation 1

After each wheelchair has been used it must be decontaminated appropriately after each use; when it becomes dirty or soiled; or is at risk of blood or bodily fluids exposure.

Situation 2

­­­­­Situation 3

Situation 4

Situation 5

Each resident in St. Johns Hospital has the right to access their own private and personal information and with whom they wish to share it this information with. And family members can only access this information with the consent of the patient as all patient information is protected and respected, personal information is treated as confidential and held in accordance with legislation data protected act 1988/2003 and this is in accordance with standards 8.2