Health and Social Care-A2- Unit 2-Practitioner roles - comparing a teacher and a nurse.

by tarirojerayahoocouk (student)

A2 Unit 6 Practitioner Roles

Main duties and activities of an Adult Nurse:

Adult nurses are responsible for working with both old and young adults with diverse health conditions which may be acute, chronic, physical or mental (1). Nurses are the only practitioners that care for patients for 24 hours whilst all the other practitioners such as doctors only see patients for a short amount of time before handing them over to a nurse (5). Adult nurses have many duties as their aim is to try and improve people’s quality of life even if the situations seem difficult (1). Adult nurses face different situations everyday hence why being a nurse can be challenging but also rewarding.

A nurse’s day is usually very busy and packed as they are not only looking after one patient but may look after a number of patients at the same time. A nurse’s day consists of; writing patient’s care plans, providing nursing care to patients in hospitals, at home, nursing homes or in other settings. Nurses implement plans and follow up tasks. Some of the day to day duties of adult nurses are preparing patients for operations, cleaning and dressing wounds, monitoring patients’ temperature, pulse and blood pressure (1). Nurses have to observe and record the conditions of their patients and respond quickly to emergencies through reporting any abnormalities to the GP; they check and administer drugs and injections, set up any drips or blood transfusions, assist the doctors during the ward rounds and procedures. Adult nurses also delegate tasks to students and junior staff. Adult nurses have to speak to their patients all the time during procedures, reassuring them in order to relieve anxiety and they also have to communicate with the patients relatives. It is the nurse’s responsibility to give health education to the patient and their relatives; they are also responsible for mentoring students and supervising junior staff (8). A nurse will daily maintain a patient’s records also; they are not allowed to divulge confidential information regarding a patient’s condition (1). A day as adult nurse will include helping patients to have a wash and also assist them in consuming food and drink. On a typical day; a nurse may have to answer the phone and may also have to book transport for their patients if they need to be transferred to other departments. (2).

Adult nursing and teamwork:

Nursing is one of the jobs that teamwork is essential and without it things would not run smoothly for the patients. Nurses work together as a team with their colleagues, senior staff, and junior staff and student nurses by sharing ideas, information and problems at work; this reduces workload at work through mutual support and gives a better outcome of patient care. Adult nurses are part of the multi-disciplinary team (3) so they will need to know how to work closely and interact with other practitioners (3). Other practitioners that work with adult nurses include:

Doctors: Nurses assist doctors in diagnosing patient’s medical conditions and treating them (4) as doctors are usually the leaders of the multi-disciplinary team. For example it is the doctors that name patients conditions and illnesses, then the doctors will then refer the patient to a nurse to be looked after and that nurse must always give feedback to the doctor on the progress of the patient.
Pharmacists: Nurses give patients prescriptions and then the pharmacists are the ones that look at the prescription and give the written treatment to the patient. For example if a nurse notices that a patient needs certain medication in order for the patient’s condition to be treated; the nurse will then give a slip called a prescription whereby the patient would take it to the pharmacists to receive the treatment recommended by the nurse.
Physiotherapists: Nurses would refer a patient to have physiotherapy if they see it necessary for the patient. For example nurses and physiotherapists would work together when dealing with a patient with cystic fibrosis as the nurses would be the ones to give those regular check-ups and the physiotherapist would help through performing breathing techniques such as percussion on the patient in order to help them release the thick sticky mucus in their system.
Dieticians: A dietician would work with a nurse in order to provide better nutritional care and advice for a patient. Dieticians also plan the menus that the nurses give to the patient. Mostly a dietician and a nurse would work together when dealing with a patient that has conditions such as diabetes and heart disease (6). Nurses would also refer to dietician in order for the dietician to educate the patients
Anaesthetists: If a patient needs an operation and needs to be put to sleep, nurses would work with anaesthetists as they would be the ones to put the patient to sleep and the nurses would need to look after the patient from the time that the operation is done until the patient wakes up.
Occupational therapists: Nurses may refer a client that has osteoarthritis to an occupational therapist in order for the occupational therapist to then help the patient regain independence in doing daily activities such as cooking. Occupational therapists may do this through their therapy techniques such as providing devices that will make daily activities easier for the patient with osteoarthritis (7).
Social workers: Nurses are the ones that refer a patient to a social worker and without a nurse referring them to a social worker the social worker has no need in seeing the patient. The social workers would then refer back to the nurse on how the patient is doing socially and emotionally.
Pain specialist nurse/ Other Nurses: Not only do nurses work with other different practitioners but most of the times they will be working together with each other (9).

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT FOR AN ADULT NURSE

Part time and full time work:

The majority of adult nurses work full time but however part time hours which is 18.5 hours a week are also available in different forms (10). The standard working hours a week of an adult nurse who works full time is 37.5 hours; this can include mornings, evenings, weekends, night shifts and even bank holidays (11).

Overtime:

Overtime is available for both part time and full time nurses as all they have to do in order to be granted over time is fill in an overtime slip stating which days they would like to do the overtime, this slip must be filled in and handed in at least 5 years prior to the overtime day (11).

Annual pay:

Adult nurses salary income usually differs depending on how long they have been a nurse and what position they are in for example; the starting annual salary for an adult nurse is between £21,388 and £27,901 a year (12). Adult nurses that have advanced in this field are known as clinical specialists or nurse team leaders, these people can earn up to £25,500 up to around £50,000 a year; however those privileged enough to excel to the highest type of adult nurses are called nurse consultants will be get an annual salary between £39,000 and £67,000 (12).

Annual leave:

All adult nurses whether they work full time or part time all receive and are entitled to the same amount of annual leave but however what differs it is the number of years they have been with the company (13). Adult nurses will have to negotiate with their managers concerning which days they get the annual leave. Firstly all adult nurses whether newly qualified or not, they are all entitled to the 8 bank holiday days in the year (13). Newly qualified nurses only get 27 days off as annual leave within the whole year compared to nurses whom have been working for 5 years get 29 days off; however after 5 years of service adult nurses will be entitled to 33 days of annual leave which is almost a week more than a newly qualified nurse (13).

Pension:

Pension is regular money that the government gives to people who have reached the state pension age, which starts at 65 years (14). Nurses who work within the NHS are under the state pension meaning that the most they can get when they retire is £107.45 per week but however; the state pension increases every year so the state pension for 2015 will be more than £107.45 per week (16).

Job security:

The job security of being an adult nurse is very high as wherever you go whether in Europe or Asia, nurses are always going to be needed. This is because people are always going to be ill, people are always going to need someone to look after them so the more people that get ill, the more nurses needed; hence why it is reasonably easy to become a nurse after university as they are high in demand for staff meaning they will forever be needed. Unlike businesses that shut down due to a lack of clients, adult nurses are highly unlikely to be made redundant as there is always work for a nurse to do as there is never going to be a time where everyone is in good health (15).

Anti- discriminatory practice in the workplace:

Anti-discriminatory practice in the workplace is action that is taken to prevent any form of discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, class, gender or age (25). These practices must be put in place to ensure equality and justice for adult nurses during recruitment or in normal working conditions. Legislations such as the Equality Act 2010 are there to safeguard employers as it ensures that, no negative or mistaken assumptions are made towards an employer as it gives everybody an equal chance of being employed. Also the equality act 2010 ensures that reasonable adjustments are made towards employers who need them; the reasonable adjustments could include, shortening the length of shifts, giving rest breaks/ private room to take medication if needed or to even adjust your working hours (26). An equal opportunities policy has to be put in place also which allows adult nurse employers to be treated with dignity and respect and to be allowed flexible service and equal access to services (27). Anti-bullying policies must be also put in place in order to prevent employers bullying one another; this policy includes, employers getting clear guidelines on how to deal with bullying, making all adult nurses aware of the policy and encouraging them to report any bullying that occurs (28). All these legislations are there in order to safeguard and protect all adult nurses working within the workplace.

Working patterns:

Adult nursing is a 24 hour care job so working patterns may differ each day (1). The shifts may include early mornings, evening and night shifts, so therefore the working patterns of an adult nurse will depend on individual choices of the length of the shift they prefer and the time also. A survey was taken on nurses in 2012 to find out which shift they prefer out of a 12 hour one and an 8 hour one; the results showed that 46% favoured the 12 hour shifts and 43% preferred the 8 hour shift (35).

Social Status (level of public approval):

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Social Status (level of public approval):

The social status of a job refers to the rank or position of a person’s job within the society. In 2002 there was a BBC poll that talked about the most respected jobs and according to this poll, nurses were the second most respected practitioners after doctors (17). Adult nurses are still highly esteemed by society because of their care and hospitality towards patients these are shown on television episodes such as one born every minute and A&E; but however the media also portrays the image of a nurse in a negative way through showing panoramas of adult nurses abusing and bullying patients in residential care homes therefore causing society to lose respect for adult nurses (19). On the whole the status of a nurse is generally increasing as unlike before it’s now a graduate profession where a degree in adult nursing has to be obtained before being called an adult nurse. In addition; nurses pay has raised compared to the past years but however, their status is not as high as doctors because as they get paid less than doctors even though they perform more tasks and duties than the doctors (20).

Qualifications:

Adult nurses are required to have GCSE’s and A-Levels so that they can be accepted into a university in order to get a degree in adult nursing. All degrees ask for at least 5 GCSE’s or equivalent at grade C or above, especially maths and English (22). Most universities ask for either points or A-levels but however they differ for example; universities in London or near London require more points and higher grades as compared to other universities, this may be because adult nurses who work in London get more paid more than any other region so in increasing the entry boundaries in London ensures that the more intelligent candidates for adult nursing will get picked to then be able to earn more money as a qualified adult nurse. For example, in order to study adult nursing at Manchester only 280 points are required (23), whereas Kings College London requires at least 300 points at grade BBB or above with at least a science subject (24).

Opportunities for career progression:

Adult nurses are one of the professions that have many opportunities of progressing in their job as there are levels of a nurse. Usually adult nurses start from being a staff nurse (band 5) which is the lowest level of a nurse (18). The next level after being a staff nurse is a junior sister/charge nurse where you’ll have more responsibilities; after that adult nurses can get promoted to be a ward sister/ team leader, this position requires them to have specialist knowledge as they are responsible for annually interviewing the nursing staff (18). After this level adult nurses can be promoted to be nurse practitioners and then a nurse consultant where they spend 50% of their time at work giving direct clinical care to the patients and the rest researching about their area of expertise. Adult nurses could go as far as climbing the executive ladder to become a director of the nursing post where one of their many responsibilities is managing patient’s data and medical records (21).

Local and political factors influencing job opportunities:

There seem to be no political factors to being an adult nurse but however there are plenty of local ones which influence the job opportunities of a nurse.

Local factors:

Ageing population- Statistics show that there are 10 million people over 65 years old and they also show that over the next 20 years the amount will increase by 5.5 million and this number will be nearly doubled to 19 million people aged 65 or above by the year 2050 (29). An increase in the ageing population will cause an increase in the number of adult nurses needed as people over the age of 65 are more likely to have health problems therefore meaning that they will need the care of their nurses; and the more of the elderly we have, the more of illness’ we’ll have therefore meaning the more respected and in demand an adult nurses job will become.
Geographical location i.e. Harrogate- Adult nurses will be in demand in locations such as Harrogate as there is a large number of old people who live there and the more elderly a person gets the more prone they are to get ill and therefore needing the care of a nurse.
Lifestyle such as obesity, alcohol and smoking- There has been an increase in the number of people who smoke, binge drink and are obese, this is due to people affording to live an affluence lifestyle but however all these activities cause implications on your health, so due to this, it has led to an increase in health problems and diseases such as cancer and diabetes causing more adult nurses to be needed in hospitals.
Facilities at Hospitals- Hospitals such as St James hospital will need more adult nurses as they have over 120 different services such as burns and liver units and many more; so therefore because of the many facilities and services they have, they will need more nurses to carry out these services on patients (37).
Use of technology and cure rates- Due to the increase in technology a nurse’s job may become less stressful and less straining; for example patients in rural areas can now get skyped for consultations, meetings or even check-ups (38).
Immigration- more people are moving into England therefore meaning there’s more potential patients in hospital which increases the job opportunities for adult nurses as the more the population is in England, the more they will need nurses in order to have a balanced ratio of patients to nurses.

Main duties and activities of a High school maths teacher

Teachers are one of the professions that have a responsibility of impacting on young people’s lives through education. It’s quite a challenging job but however its rewarding when seeing the great achievement and progress made from the students being taught. It’s about being able to appreciate student differences otherwise failure to do so may result in not becoming a good teacher. To be a good maths teacher it is essential to know and have a passion for maths. A maths teacher’s main job role is to educate and teach children from the age of 11-18 using variety of teaching methods. Besides teaching, teachers are also inclined to observe, test and record the progress of students (30). Teachers are almost responsible for the future of the next generation as it is their job to also equip and educate the next generation of presidents, doctors and businessmen. It is essential for teachers to be patient and kind to students and also knowing that each pupil responds differently so therefore an ability to be able to distinguish how each pupil learns best is essential.

A typical day of a maths teacher would include; planning and presenting lessons to a range of classes of different abilities and ages; for example a maths teacher is not only going to be teacher top set year 10 students but will also be teaching a bottom set class of year 9 students so therefore a maths teacher would be required to set different lessons plans at different levels in order to suit each classes ability. A maths teacher would need to mark students work on a day to day basis and giving appropriate feedback to the students in order for them to be able to improve and progress further; not only is the maths teacher required to mark pupils works but to also keep a personal diary that records each and every pupils progress and development. During the lessons a maths teacher’s task would be to engage the students throughout and this may be achieved through the use of interactive whiteboards, discussions, videos and other learning resources that the children are able to identify with. Every single time in lesson all a maths teacher’s attempting to do is to prepare pupils for examinations which is not a very easy task to do. Maths teacher ought to manage pupils’ behaviour not only in classrooms but also anywhere where it’s on school premises and may do so through shouting and disciplining the students. Occasionally maths teachers will have to attend department meetings where all the maths teachers will meet and discuss the progress of every student being taught maths; in addition maths teachers are also required to attend any formal meetings being held in school such as parents evenings- where discussion of a student’s progress occurs between the maths teacher and the student’s parent and also, attending any training days being held in the school (30).

High school maths teacher and teamwork:

Head of Maths department: Every subject area has a person who’s the head of department. Maths teachers would work very closely with their head of department staff; they do this through having regular meetings together where they discuss the progress of the students and discuss any problems or issues that need resolving; also if a student is misbehaving or being disruptive the maths teacher may handover the student to the head of department staff to deal with the student (31).
Principal/ Head teacher: A principle is the overall head of the school; they make decisions for everything including staff recruitment and managing budgets. They hold staff meetings with all staff whenever possible and they also would attend parents meetings to assist the maths teacher (32).
First Aiders: In each classroom there’s a list of all the first aiders that work within the school; if an emergency occurs in the classroom the maths teacher would check on the list for the nearest first aider and would therefore contact them to come to the classroom.
Receptionist/ Admins staff: Usually when a child has an appointment or is off sick the parent of the child would call the school and tell the school’s receptionist that they are not going to be in; so a receptionist would work closely with a maths teacher through informing the teacher that a student will not be attending the lesson today due to so and so problems (33).
School nurse: A school nurse would work with a maths teacher if a student in the class is not feeling well. The maths teacher would refer to the school nurse in order for the nurse to take the student and then the nurse would check the student’s temperature, blood pressure or give medication (only if student has a consent note from the doctors and a prescription).
Learning support teacher: Learning support teachers would work with a maths teacher if there is a student who needs additional learning support or has a disability. They would be the one to spend more time with the student and would be responsible for their education; they would also give feedback to the maths teacher concerning the progress that the student has made.
Exam offices: Anything to do with exams and exam papers a maths teacher would speak to the exam officer about it. They are responsible for sorting out practice exam papers for students, they would work with a maths teacher by setting grade boundaries/ estimations of what the student may get in the exam; they also give second options to if the students should get entered into the exam or not and whether if they should do foundation or a higher paper.
Classroom assistant: Not all teachers have classroom assistants but however some do and if a maths teacher has an assistant; the maths teacher would be getting help and support with tasks such as handing out calculators, handing out exercise books and even answering any questions that a student has when the maths teacher is speaking to another student. If there comes a day where the maths teacher is not able to work, the classroom assistant would teach instead (34).

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT FOR AN ADULT NURSE

Qualifications:

The first and probably most important requirement needed to be a maths teacher is to have an interest in maths. Maths teachers are required to have GCSE’s or equivalent especially maths, English and science at grades C or above. Most universities ask for either up to 360 points or GCE grades of AAA in maths or further maths in order to study maths related courses at university. Maths teachers need to have an undergraduate degree; even though a maths degree is preferred nevertheless it is not a requirement as degrees that involve maths will be also accepted such as economics, and engineering. After completing an undergraduate degree, a postgraduate certificate in education from any university needs to be obtained; this is a one year course. After completing the one year post graduate degree, a qualified teacher’s status (QTS) will be awarded (36).

Opportunities for career progression:

As a maths teacher there are many opportunities to progress in schools. A maths teacher may be selected to become the head of the maths department, the head of the year or even to become a coordinator of a cross-curricular area such as careers education or special needs. Maths teachers could even progress to become professional maths mentors for trainee teachers who are on placement. Maths teachers may progress on the career ladder to become a member of the senior leadership team in a school and may even become a deputy or head teacher but this will take training and a few years of service before being chosen for these roles. A maths teacher may even move out of the secondary school and become a further education lecturer or even be part of the Ofsted (44).

Social Status (level of public approval):

The social status of a maths teacher is considerably high as they are respected by society and their pay is also high as their starting pay is a lot higher than other jobs starting pay. When people think of teaching they usually have a positive attitude towards it as the general public sees educating and preparing children for the future ahead as a kind and interesting job to do. A survey showed that primary and secondary school teachers were considered closest in social status to management consultants and doctors (42). Personally if put to the choice to consider what kind of teacher had the highest status, a maths teacher would be the one as maths is universal whereby anyone and everyone can understand it no matter where you come from or what language you speak.

Local and political factors influencing job opportunities:

A maths teacher will have local and political factors that will influence job opportunities.

Political factors:

University tuition fees:

Economic recession and funding:

Changes in exams schedules in school:

OFSTED (Standards in education): due to the high standards of education it will make it harder for everyone that is qualified to be a maths teacher to actually get a job. This is because only high quality teachers will be taken and selected to work in the school.

CQC (Standards in health settings):

Local factors:

Increasing birth rate: Due to the increasing in the number of births rate, the number of children going to secondary school is also going to increase meaning that a maths teacher may be required to teach more students in class and to therefore do more marking. The benefit of an increase in birth rates maybe that more maths teachers will be needed in schools in order to teach the students.

Immigration: More people are coming into the UK unlike before meaning that they will be more children that will be attending secondary school; this means that maths teachers will be expected to teach maths to children whom come from different countries which can be challenging but also fulfilling. The number of maths teachers in secondary school may also increase due to this factor (45).

Inner city: If a maths teacher was looking to work in inner city areas, they may find a job quicker as inner city areas have a higher population of people as compared to outer city areas so they have a higher chance of getting a job in a secondary school as compared to looking for a vacancy in outer city areas where there’s not a lot of people.

Technology in schools: A math teachers job may become simplified through the advancements made by technology, for example because of the supply of computers maths teachers are now able to send their students to the ICT room for them to get on with some maths questions or even to download some past papers. Also in the classroom maths teachers may use the smart board when showing pupils how to work out a maths equation.

Annual leave/ Holidays:

Maths teachers are entitled to annual leave and pay but the length of their annual leave is determined by how long they have been working for. In the first year of service a maths teacher can get full pay for 25 working off and after completing 4 calendar months service it will be half pay for another 50 days. If a maths teacher has been working for 2 years, they’ll receive full pay for 50 working days and then half pay for another 50 working days; during the 3rd year of service they will receive full pay for 75 working days and half pay for another 75 working days. During four or more years a math’s teacher will receive full pay for 100 working days and half pay for another 100 working days; so in summary the length of a teacher’s service determines the length and pay of your annual leave (43). Being a math’s teacher is great because when students are on holidays, the teachers also go on holiday.

Part time and full time work:

Teachers can either decide to work part time or full time as both are available. Full time teachers are entitled to work 195 days a year, of which 190 days should involve teaching the children in classroom situations; whilst the other 5 days students will not be required to come in as they will be staff insert or training days. Full time teachers spend approximately 1,265 hours in a year in school whether it being teaching or just supervising pupils and the weekly time is approximately 23.5 hours (39). Full time teachers spend 760 of the 1,265 hours teaching in the classroom and the rest is used for other duties. Part time teachers work 40% less than full time teachers, working for a maximum of 759 hours per year (39).

Annual pay:

Usually the annual pay of teachers will differ depending on the amount of responsibilities they do and how long they have been working for; newly qualified teachers whom have just graduated can get a minimum of £22, 03 and £27,543 in inner London areas. Teachers starting salary is high compared to other graduate starting salary jobs; this may be because teachers play a vital role in children’s lives. Advanced teachers such as members of the senior leadership team can earn up to £65,324 in London and around £58,096 elsewhere, and head teacher’s salary can be between £42,232 and £114,437 a year (40).

Overtime:

As compared to adult nurses overtime regulations for teachers are very different; because teachers do a lot of overtime but are however are not paid for it because they are required to do the extra time at home, which includes marking pupils work and planning the lessons.

Pension rights:

Teachers receive occupational pension and also the state pension.

Woking patterns:

It is difficult to say the precise working hours of a maths teacher as teacher’s job normally continues at home as well. Maths teachers working in a secondary schools work the longest hours as compared to other teaching jobs. On BBC there was news about secondary school teachers working hours; stating that teachers put in a lot of hours outside the school day, before 8am, after 6pm and on weekends. However the usual working patterns of a maths teacher that works full time may be, come in before 8am in order to prepare lessons and have a teachers brief, then go teach a lesson then go to break after; after break go to another lesson and then lunch, and then after lunch go for the final lesson and then it’s the end of the day; however this may not be the case for all teachers as some may have frees on their timetables (41).

Job security:

The job security of a maths teacher is very high because maths teachers are needed everywhere in the world. This is because maths is national curriculum subject so there will be job opportunities for maths teachers everywhere in the world, Also if a maths teacher has a maths degree they are also able to go into other jobs that are maths related such as economics or accounting. Therefore being a maths teacher or a person whom has studied maths enables you to have access to maths teaching jobs in different areas of the world.

Anti- discriminatory practice in the workplace:

Anti-discriminatory practice in the workplace is action that is taken to prevent any form of discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, class, gender or age (25). These practices must be put in place to ensure equality and justice for maths teachers during recruitment or in normal working conditions. Legislations such as the Equality Act 2010 are there to safeguard employers as it ensures that, no negative or mistaken assumptions are made towards an employer as it gives everybody an equal chance of being employed. Also the equality act 2010 ensures that reasonable adjustments are made towards any teacher who needs them; the reasonable adjustments could include, shortening the length of working hours a day, giving rest breaks/ private room to take medication if needed or to even allow the maths teachers to move to part time (26). Under the equality acts teachers are advised to treat children with special educational needs equally and they must give them reasonable adjustments such as allowing them to leave lessons 5 minutes earlier if they need to, extending homework/coursework deadlines and also giving them extra time during exams. An equal opportunities policy has to be put in place also which allows maths teachers to be treated with dignity and respect and to be allowed flexible service and equal access to services (27). Anti-bullying policies must be also put in place in order to prevent employers bullying one another; this policy includes, employers getting clear guidelines on how to deal with bullying, making all teachers aware of the policy and encouraging them to report any bullying that occurs (28). Teachers also make the anti-bullying policy aware to every student and take disciplinary actions to any student who breaks that policy in order to safeguard all students. All these legislations are there in order to safeguard and protect both teachers and students in secondary schools.

Life quality factors- How these are met for an Adult Nurse:

Occupation:

Occupation means having something worthwhile to do. Adult nursing is an occupation itself as the duties and roles of nurses will keep them occupied and have a feeling that their lives are worthwhile especially because they take care of ill health people. Duties that an adult nurse does such as assisting patients in bathing and dressing will keep them busy. For example when an adult nurse is at work they won’t be just sat there with nothing to do but rather they will be racing up and down with patients to attend to.

Stimulation:

Stimulation is all about keeping the mind at work and not getting bored. Usually an adult nurse’s mind will be stimulated through a number of duties that require thinking, for example when writing patient care plans an adult nurse will really have to think before they write them down. Also, another way that adult nurses can keep stimulated is through taking part in staff challenges or quizzes.

Effective communication:

Effective communication is all about being informed and listened to. Adult nurses obtain effective communication within their job through reporting any needs or suggestions to nurse consultants or senior staff nurses so that they would either be able to understand, analyse and act upon the suggestions or needs if possible, this way the adult nurse will feel wanted and as part of the nursing staff. Effective communication is also done through the nurse staff meetings; for example in the staff meetings the nurses may be discussing on how to improve caring for patients and through this they are staying in touch with their colleagues and managers and are updated with what’s going on around them.

Choice:

Choice is about having the freedom to choose from options. Adult nurses get to choose whether or not they want to work in a private sector or a public one; for example as newly qualified nurses could choose to whether work at a private hospital such as Nuffield health or work at a public one such as St James Hospital. Adult nurses also get to choose which type of shift they want to work so for example whether working mornings, evenings or night shifts. However adult nurses don’t get to choose factors such as which patient they look after or which ward they work in.

Autonomy:

Autonomy is about having a right to decide and make decisions concerning things. Adult nurses have autonomy as they makes decisions about which day they want to work and the length of the shifts. Moreover the longer an adult nurse has been working, the more autonomy they will have; for example a nurse consultant will make decisions concerning the training and development of other nurses whereas a staff nurse would have less autonomy. However there are certain procedures that have to be done in a certain way so in some causes adult nurses are not to be autonomous.

Equitable treatment:

Equitable treatment is about treating everyone equally and fairly. Adult nurses receive equitable treatment through employers not discriminating against them in turns of promotion; for example an Indian adult nurse should have the same chances to get promotion just as a white adult nurse has. Adult nurses also receive equitable treatment through getting paid the amount of hours they worked for.

Social contact:

Social contact can be met for an adult nurse through having a close relationship with colleagues, this way when a nurse is feeling down a colleague will be able to offer comfort in the form of hugging, holding hands or even just a pat on the back.

Social support:

Social support is all about having someone to talk to and being around the company of people. Adult nurses will have many opportunities to receive social support from their friends/colleagues through chatting, laughing and fellowshipping with them during breaks or even meeting outside of work.

Approval:

Nursing is one of the jobs where approval is given to adult nurses on a day to day basis; for example a patient’s family may say thank you to the nurse for taking care of their relative. Mangers may give adult nurses approval through promotion; for example promoting an adult nurse that was just a junior staff to be a nurse team leader. An adult nurse may also get approval through receiving a raise in pay.

Privacy:

Adult nurses have privacy as their rights are maintained and respected. For example personal information of nurses is kept somewhere private where people will not be able to access it unless they are authorised or have permission to do so. Adult nurses also have privacy through not having to share the same toilets or resting rooms as patients as they have their own toilets that are only for staff.

Dignity:

Adult nurses have dignity as some of the patients that they deal with will respect and appreciate them. If an adult nurse does something wrong concerning their work , employers and mangers will solve the problem whilst keeping the adult nurse’s dignity through not shouting at them in meetings but speaking to them how they would like to be spoken to if it was them in that situation. However sometimes an adult nurses may lose dignity as some patients are disrespectful, rude, and racist and may even shout and insult the nurses.

Confidentiality:

Confidentiality is there to keep people feeling secure and respected. An adult nurse’s confidentiality is kept through not publically sharing their issues or what they are going through. If an adult nurse has any disability or illness this should not be shared and told to all other members of staff- that is how confidentiality is kept in that situation.

Psychological security:

Psychological security is all about feeling safe and knowing where you are. Adult nurses have psychological security as there are CCTV’s all over the hospital so that if anything happens it will be caught on camera. There are also fire doors around the hospital in case of fire so that adult nurses will be able to escape.

Life quality factors- How these are met for a maths teacher:

Occupation:

The job of a teacher is an occupation itself as it keeps people busy and occupied. Maths teachers keep themselves occupied through duties such as teaching students maths in lessons, answering any questions that the students have concerning working out maths, marking student’s books and many more others.

Stimulation:

Stimulation is about keeping your mind active. Maths teachers stimulate their minds through having to think about what level a student is on when doing students’ progress reviews, also marking past papers will keep them stimulated as they have to read through the student’s answers and made a decision whether if it’s a correct answer or not.

Effective communication:

Effective communication is one of the most important life quality factors for a maths teacher because they have to keep in constant touch with their head of departments; they do this through having maths department meetings at least once every week in order to discuss any issues or suggestions concerning maths. Effective communication is even so important for teachers that they make it a must to have training days at least twice a year where all the teachers in the school meet with the principals and discuss about the progress of the students and are also trained into hoe to become better teachers. When a maths teacher has an issue with a student they may talk to the head of department about thee student in order for the head of department to deal with them instead.

Choice:

Choice is about having a right to choose between options. A maths teacher may have some choices such as choosing to teach the subject of maths instead of English, choosing to work in a particular school as opposed to other schools and also choosing when to mark the pupil’s books, choosing whether to work part time or full time, choosing to either teach key stage 1, 2 or 3; however there are certain things that a maths teacher may have no choice but to do for example; they cannot choose which types of students they want to teach in terms of social characteristics.

Autonomy:

Autonomy is one of the most important LQF for maths teachers to have as they have to make decisions about; students grade boundaries, which topic to teach e.g. whether simultaneous equations or Pythagoras, how to teach the topic e.g. whether through working out past questions or writing on whiteboards an which day to mark the student’s books. However in some cases a maths teacher may not have a choice but will just have to do certain things; for example it is not the choice of the maths teacher to not have a lesson on Monday 1st period but they just have to follow their timetable whether they like it or not.

Equitable treatment:

It is important for math teachers to receive equitable treatment in order for them to be treated equally and fairly and without discrimination. The equality act 2010 enables teachers to be treated equally; when applying for the job the employers are not allowed to discriminate against them because of race, ethnicity, gender, disability or even sexuality, also maths teachers have equitable treatment through not being discriminated against in terms of promotion. Also the equality act ensures that teachers receive equitable treatment through allowing reasonable adjustments to be taken towards those who need it; for example if a maths teacher has type 1 diabetes and needs to take 5 minutes away from a lesson to take medications, the employers must give them a right to do this.

Social contact:

Social contact usually comes as a form of social support. A maths teacher could receive social contact from other teachers at school through sharing hugs; high 5’s and even kisses on the cheeks.

Social support:

Teaching is one of them jobs where people meet new people and form quite close relationships with them. A maths teacher will have social support through chatting and getting to know new people and forming that close bound with them to the point of even sharing secrets and confidential information between them.

Approval:

Employers could show approval to maths teachers through saying well done to them for their good teaching. When a head teacher is really pleased with a maths teacher they may show their approval through promoting them to become the head of the maths department, also a maths teacher may receive approval when being observed through the observer smiling and nodding at the maths teacher.

Privacy:

Maths teachers have privacy as their rights are maintained and respected. For example personal information of teachers is kept somewhere private where people will not be able to access it unless they are authorised or have permission to do so. Teachers also have privacy through not having to share the same toilets as students; also the staff room allows maths teachers to have some privacy as they are away from the company of students.

Dignity:

Maths teachers have dignity as society sees them as respectable and helpful people. If a maths teacher was found to be bad at teaching maths, the head teacher would not announce it in front of students but rather would hold meetings about it in attempt to resolve this issue whilst also speaking to them like adults through not shouting at them. However; sometimes teacher may lose dignity as some students may shout at them and be disrespectful and rude to them.

Confidentiality:

Confidentiality is there to keep people feeling secure and respected. A maths teacher’s confidentiality is kept through not publically sharing their issues or what they are going through. If a maths teacher has any disability or illness this should not be shared and told to all the other teachers as it is information that doesn’t concern everyone.

Psychological security:

Psychological security is all about feeling safe and knowing where you are. Maths teachers have psychological security as there are CCTV’s in school so that if anything happens it will be caught on camera and therefore reported if it’s a criminal activity. There are also fire doors around schools in case of fire so that the teachers will be able to evacuate the building in case of a fire. Fire extinguishers can also increase teacher’s psychological security for example, if the room sets on fire during lessons using a fire extinguisher can get rid of the fire. On a whole maths teachers have psychological security but however their psychological security has decreased due to the news of how a teacher got stabbed by a student in front of all the other students during a lesson in Leeds (46).

Relevant caring skills and techniques- How an adult nurse applies these to patients:

Observation:

Adult nurses need to observe patients very well as they will need to notice the changes in their health; for example adult nurses need to notice that a patient is ready to go home after an operation and in doing so they can send the patient home. Adult nurses must be good at observing patient’s physical symptoms; for example noticing that a patient’s hand has gone swollen and red after an operation. As adult nurses care for the body of their patients, they may also observe a patient’s health condition; for example noticing that a patient with type 2 diabetes has lost 5lbs in the past month.

Social perception:

Social perception is all about recognising patients’ emotions and also understanding them. Social perception can be achieved by adult nurses through getting to know their patients so well that when they are not of themselves they will be able to discern and feel that there is something wrong with the patients.

Working alongside:

Adult nurses could work alongside patients when demonstrating to them how to do something; for example if an adult nurse wants the patient to learn how to feed themselves again after an elbow operation, they must first show the patient how to move their elbows in order for it not to hurt when eating and then assist the patient in doing it until the patient can feed themselves without hurting/damaging their elbow.

Communication:

Adult nurses must try to communicate with their patient as much as possible as it creates a trusting relationship between them which will enhance patient cooperation. Adult nurses must listen to a patient’s suggestions and ideas through making sure that they act upon what they whenever possible. If a patient tells an adult nurse what they prefer to be addressed as, the adult nurse must immediately start calling the patient the name they have suggested to be called as this ensures that the patient is happy; for example preferring to be called Mrs, Mr or Miss rather than just their first name. Communication can also be given either verbally or non-verbally which is through body language and eye contact and adult nurses can implement that when needed, e.g. if dealing with a deaf and dumb patient.

Encouragement:

Adult nurses could say words like ‘you’ll be out of here in no time’ as it encourages the patient through them thinking that they are actually getting better and that they are not going to die in hospital. Adult nurses may encourage a patient who has weight problems through telling them to keep on dieting and eating a balanced diet, they could also encourage them by saying ‘this week you did well you lost about 5 lbs., at this rate you’ll soon be in good shape and health’.

Creating Trust:

Adult nurses can gain a patient’s trust through giving them some personal space through not asking a patient any information that is unpleasantly private. Normally trust is not just given to a person, it is supposed to be earned so adult nurses must give a patients a reason to trust them and this reason can be through not violating their confidentiality; for example treating patients with respect when speaking to them through speaking to them calmly and treating them like ‘normal’ people and not seeing them as uses because they have health problems.

Reducing negative feelings:

If a junior staff that has not yet got the hang of dealing with patients starts arguing or creating tension with a patient, team leader nurses must intervene in the conflict and try to sort things out without the patient getting offended or feeling inferior. Adult nurses could reduce negative feelings through not shouting to their patients even if they deserve to be shouted at; for example adult nurses must remain patient when dressing up their patients even if the patients are refusing to cooperate. If patients start shouting at adult nurses and when they have done nothing wrong, adult nurses must ask the patient politely with a low keyed voice to sit down and calm down, instead of shouting back and arguing at them back as that worsens the situation.

Gaining compliance:

To gain compliance from patients who are terrified of needles; adult nurses could tell patients the reasons why they need to get the injection and the consequences of not having it done. Also adult nurses may have to tell patients why they need to take certain pills; for example they may tell a patient who has high blood pressure that if they don’t take their pills once a day their blood pressure will increase.

Using eye contact and facial expression:

Adult nurses must try to use eye contact and positive facial expressions when they are talking to their patients as this will make the patients feel like they are being listened too.

Disengagement:

Disengagement is all about moving away patients if they are stirring up conflict in order for them to calm down. Adult nurses are not to argue with patients even if they are kicking off as its unprofessional; for example if a patient starts shouting at an adult nurse and attempting to physically abuse the nurse, the adult nurses must prevent this from happening through remaining calm and apologetic towards the patient.

Physical contact:

Patients may need physical contact as a sign of support or help; for example as an adult nurse there will be times when patients need help with dressing, bathing and eating, so in doing all these things physical contact is being given to the patients. If patients start crying, adult nurses may be able to comfort them by giving hugs or pats on the back to help them feel better.

Distraction:

Distraction is about taking the patient’s mind off pain or any unpleasant situation; adult nurses could distract a patient who misses their family through playing their favourite music in their room in order to make them feel as if they are at home. Adult nurses could distract patients when giving injections to them, through engaging in a conversation with them so that when the needle is placed in them, it will not hurt as much as their muscles will be relaxed not tensed.

Modelling:

Adult nurses could model to patients through showing them how to behave around the hospital so that they will follow that example will also know what is expected of them when in hospital. For example adult nurses could tell and show a patient and their visitors/ family and friends that when walking around the hospital, they must not shout or scream as it will disturb and create a bad atmosphere for other patients.

Showing approval:

When adult nurses give patients approval it makes the patient happy as they will feel that their nurse actually likes and cares for them; for example adult nurses could give approval to their patients after giving them an injection through saying ‘well done, your very brave’. Approval can also come through the showing of body language or face expression so when at times adult nurses should give patients thumbs up or a smile with a nod.

Setting challenges:

Setting challenges is all about giving patients tasks and activities that will be challenging to them but will help them improve their confidence and skills. Adult nurses could set a patient who had a leg operation 3 weeks ago the challenge of putting on their trousers by themselves, this way the patient may develop the skill of putting their trousers on by themselves even when their leg is hurting.

Relevant caring skills and techniques- How Maths teachers apply these to students:

Social perception
Observation

Communication:

Maths teachers must try to effectively communicate with their students so that the students will be able to call for help when struggling with a maths equation and not feel awkward about it.