Personal Development and Reflective Learning as a health care worker

* GNVQ intermediate level(2) in Health & Social Care

* GNVQ foundation level(1) in Health & Social Care

I am currently doing a Diploma in health and social care then topped up with a Degree and hopefully in the near future this can help me to be a Care Manager.

This is the trainings I have had so far as well:-

* Manual and handling

* First aid

* Infection control

* Dementia

* Medication

* Fire marshall

* Sova

Personal and professional development of self and others

In order for me to maintain a safe and effective practice, i must continue to develop my own personal and professional levels. In my organisation, i work with many other professionals and i learn a lot from them. This is normally one aspect where i learn. There are so many for example role model, learning programmes, trainings, appraisals and placement in other organisation, they all help me towards my personal and professional development.

In my organisation, we do appraisal every 6 months. This is because if we are not appraised then we do not perform well when it comes to caring. So as to overcome this, my organisation has to manage the performance of every employee. We, the employees feel more motivated to work when the organisation is behind, pushing and rewarding us. In my last appraisal i had with my care-coordinator, i was able to communicate performance feedback, reviewing my job description, planned my upcoming goals, objectives and to development an individual plan. My previous goal was to improve my personal and professional development of self and others when it comes to communication. So through different trainings, learning programmes, placement and practice i was able to achieve this.

This is the example when i was assessed by my care-coordinator. In my organisation there is a client who i used to always struggle with when it comes to communicate non-verbally. Due to confidentiality i will named him as Mr B. Mr B is a client who has had a stroke affecting his right hand side and finds it difficult to express his feeling or needs. This client cannot speak much at all but can understand all that is being said to him. Last time the client was sitting in his chair in the lounge after he had his lunch. So bearing in mind all the trainings i had. I approached Mr B in a calm way, talked to him slowly and clearly using a lot facial expression such as smiling and gentle approach. I asked him if he would like anything else. Therefore to do so, I knelt down and talked to him. Due to his difficulty in communicating to people verbally, Mr B was slightly frustrated and looking agitated. So I asked him how can I helped or what I can do to make him comfortable. I used a lot of gestured prompts and non-verbal skills. The client can normally communicate by writing. Therefore I gave him a notepad and a pen and asked him to write it down. I also gave him a lot of encouragement and reassurance to make him feel a lot calmer and less frustrated. Then the client wrote it down that he would like to use the toilet. Then I made sure that his need was met by taking him to the toilet. Afterwards the client was calmer and appeared happy. At the end of the assessment i had a review with my care-coordinator and he was happy the way i used my knowledge and skills in approaching the client. i was delighted from his comments and this proved the achievement of all the practice, trainings and hard work i did.

We then discussed the parts of my new role that had gone really well and the things that maybe could have gone better. For example, I have had staffing issues within the team, as one staff member has been on long-term sick and, as we have had to use agency staff, this has at times placed pressure on the other staff by their having to work with staff who are not permanent members of the team. This has at times caused tension within the team. I have discussed this with the team - both individually at their supervision and at team meetings - to make sure I have all their opinions/feedback on record and that any extra duties are delegated fairly between the team.

We then discussed the supervisions of the team and I said I was up-to-date with these and with the training plan for the team. This is a requirement of the Minimum Care Standards to ensure good practice within the team at the workplace, and therefore absolutely important for me to keep up to date so as to support others i work with. I then informed my manager of a supervision meeting I’d had the day before with a member of the care team who was observed behaving inappropriately towards a service user. It was the early morning shift and she had shown irritation towards the service user whilst getting her out of bed. The client has not complained but another member of the team has reported it.

This particular member of staff is very well respected and it is totally out of character for her, and so I had a meeting with her to find out what the problem is. She apparently has some personal problems and was upset. I offered to support her by taking away some delegated duties in the short term and reminded her that I am here to listen and support. This was documented in her file and we will review the situation in a month. She has since apologized to the client who has graciously accepted. I assured my line manager that I will keep her up to date on this and any other issues that arise. Overall my line manager said she was pleased with my progress and performance over the last year, she asked if I had any issues/problems to discuss and I said not at this present time.

As senior worker i also encourage staffs to take on NVQ in care to develop their knowledge. Some have already started with NVQ level 2 and i support them with any problems they face. I also encourage them to be familiar with the local policies and procedures and keep up to date with the Health news, government reports and acts to help them improve their knowledge and practice. Different staffs have different learning methods for e.g one method of learning is the David Kolb`s where the styles are converger, diverger, assimilator and accommodator. Me too i kind of fit this style, so irrespective of the learning methods, i provide full support to staffs to develop their skills and knowledge.

Also a senior carer, peer support is very important for me as my job is very demanding and stressful.

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Therefore, peer review is essential as we all can meet and share our knowledge, skills and experiences that we gained through practice.

The purpose for me attending one is to evaluate my own practice and get feedback from those who are more familiar with the job. However sometimes other professionals just attend the review and judge others but not actually telling others of their own performances because they feel uncomfortable. So their evaluating feedbacks are not shared among us unless there is a type of formal system where it is compulsory.

So as to improve my personal and professional development as a senior carer, i was sent to another organisation recently to do a placement. Once there, i was introduced to one of the mentors who showed me around. He gave me a hand out about how the procedures work in his organisation. I was then asked to use his library to find out more about the procedures that are carried out for the clients.

A major cause of hospital-acquired infections can persist for days and even weeks on environmental surfaces found in healthcare settings, including bed linens, computer keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails

Using the Enquiry-Based-Learning that i learned in my organisation, i found out lots of procedures which i was able to share with other trainee senior carers. At the end of placement we all met the mentor and review about all our findings. By sharing and getting feedback from the mentor and from other trainees, this has helped me a lot during my placement and i was confident enough to care for clients who came for different procedures. This knowledge has definitely boosted me up and will help me in the future.

Another example was in my organisation, i met a new trainee senior carer and i was told she will be shadowing me.

health-care-workers

At first she was finding it hard to cope with everything. I was eager to help her because this was an opportunity for me to practice my professional development. So i started going through the basic with her by sharing my knowledge and skills. For a week, i have been showing her the practical work and even after my shift so as to continue with the theory work. It took her a while to digest everything but finally got a grip on it.

Apart from our meeting, i also recommended her some books and internet sites that would be useful for her training. Afterwards we then discussed any related problems and how this can be overcame. Overall i was happy on how far she came and it was very satisfying for me. I have been able to share my professional skills and knowledge to someone who needed it. This definitely has increased my confidence, self-esteem and i feel proud.

CONCLUSION

Through these experiences, my vision of caring has been strengthened, building on the insights gained from placements, trainings and others. By always reflecting on my work has enriched my practice and enabled me to develop new skills. It has enabled me to face the barriers that as a student impeded my practice. This has built me as a person to provide effective care and i am ready to challenge my actions and develop new ideas. Definitely after all the things that I’ve learnt and i still need to learn, i am sure with hard work and dedication, with time i will become an effective worker, wiser, more compassionate and skilful.