Unit 3 Communication Skills and ICT in HSC Assignment

Unit 3 Communication Skills and ICT in HSC Assignment

Introduction

In the health and social care effective communication between the service user and the service provider is very essential in order to understand the needs of the user and provide care accordingly. The unit 3 communication skills and ICT in HSC study basically focuses on various kinds of communications in the care context and application of various theories of communication. Also the study deals with discussion of the various aspects of the interpersonal communications in health and social care context. Also it throws light on the various laws that apply to the practice and the various policies farmed for benefits of the two parties. Various methods and strategies are used for improvements of the communication with the service user which have been discussed and the role of the organizations in ensuring good practice and compliance with the laws, regulations and codes of practice by the health care workers has been pointed out. Also the study throws light on the use of  Information knowledge  and Communication Technology software in the field of health and social care.

Task 1

1.1 Inappropriate interpersonal communication among individuals

In health and social care, the interpersonal communications include the service user, service provider and the verbal or non verbal communication between the two parties involving in process of care. As per the social exchange theory, people are involved in maximization of the pleasures and minimization of the pains (Beresford et al, 2014). As seen in the case of interpersonal communication between Anna and the doctor, the doctor could have added to pleasure of the patient by responding promptly in delivering the care needs of the patient rather than spelling out the negative words as she is drunk without understanding the situation.  Thus the inappropriate interpersonal communication involves adding of pain by using the negative behaviors and expressions as done by the doctor in the case. The doctor needs to examine the medical conditions and provide for commode and nursing staff if the patient Anna was not able to move. The doctor could have used the Uncertainty reduction theory by asking more and being more familiar with the needs of the patients through observing body language and expressions of Anna who could not speak and had stroke. This theory focuses on building of interpersonal relations in order to develop a better understanding of the situation and provide care accordingly and health care providers must be trained accordingly.

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1.2 Strategies to support users in health and socal care services with particular communication needs

Effective communication is very crucial in delivering to the care needs of the service user and this involves the removal of barriers in the interpersonal communication between the care user and provider. It is very essential for the care provider to be skilled enough in use of sign language, face reading, understanding the body language, etc as the patient may be disabled or unable to speak. Thus in case of visually impaired patients the use of glasses, magnification of images or touch could be used to allow better communication and in case of hearing impairments in patients the use of  British sign language is done in case of UK which makes use of body, hand movements, etc. Translators or other communication aids including graphical presentations can be used in case of language differences among the two parties i.e. the patient and the care provider. In the case of Anna who could not speak out her problems and being blamed of being drunk, the doctor could have examined the signs and the body language of the patient rather than poking out negative words (Burks et al, 2012).

Lo 2 factors influencing communication process

2.1 communication process influenced by values and culture

A culture is consisting of the values, trends, traditions, beliefs, rituals, ideas, etc that have a bearing on the behavior and social nature of the individuals and is generally acquired from the teachers, parents and others in the society. In the health and social care, all the workers are supposed to pay due respect to the beliefs, race, religion, values, disability and culture of the service user. In the interaction of the doctor and the patient, the body, facial expression and tone of voice should be pleasant enough while delivering care. Also the service provider should be capable of delivering care to the people from various cultures and backgrounds (Gitterman et al, 2013). When the needs are not met or the culture of a particular person or institution is violated the person feels angry and the same happened in the case of the mentee who on the second placement did not provide proper care to the hysterectomy patient who asked for help and consequently went leaking on the bed and fell down. The new mentee’s behavior was not in accordance with the culture of the health care workers as she shouted on the patient without respecting the disability, rather than having to help the patient and left it in the same position where the patient fell from the bed and bed was wet with toilet. Also the health care workers are not supposed to talk in the tone with the patient as the mentee did and shouting that its smelling terrible which is against the norms and work culture of the health care providers and this would have hurt the patient and not taken proper care of. Thus the mentor felt angry over such a behavior of mentee and took him to office to make her explain the way she should have behaved rather than saying that it’s the duty of the nurse to clean the mess or asking for provisions of a health care assistant and the patient in the case felt hurt with the behavior of the mentee.

2.2 legislation, charters and codes of practice affecting communications

Every law regulates and impacts the lives of the people in the society and is being laid down by the government or the parliament of the country. Various laws and policies impact the way people communicate in health and social care settings and the health care workers are supposed to have good knowledge and must follow the various codes, laws and policies while practicing. In case of Health and Social Care, Data protection Act 1998 entails how the information related to a patient must be used by the service providing organizations and it must be used by all the parties involved in the care services. The confidentiality policy entails that the client or service user information should not be reveled unless an approval is arrived from the patient. As in the case of the new mentee, the mentor reminded her of the “Duty of care”, which entails that it is the duty of any health care provider or worker to provide respect to the needs of the patient, use proper voice tone and facial expressions while delivering care and helping the patient in need. The mentee in the case shouted over the patient and went to a nurse in-charge to provide a health care assistant to the hysterectomy patient laving the patient with the sick on the floor rather than helping him to rise to the chair and make him comfortable. Thus the mentee violated the duty of care and did not do up her duties as a health care worker. Rather she accused the mentee of bullying her which was not the case (Burks et al, 2008).

2.3 organizational systems and policies in promotion of good practice

All the health care organizations are bound to follow the laws and policies and are supposed to ensure the implementation in every  aspect of contract  their working. Thus it is the duty of the hospital or the health care organization to promote an environment and ensure governance systems that promote the interest of service users or the individuals at care and to protect them. Thus it is the obligation on every person or professional in the health and social care to follow the rules, laws and policies and take care of the interests of the service users. Thus the organization should provide for training of the professionals and monitoring of their behaviors through making inspections at the spots (Kraus et al, 2014). The organization must have a separate department handling the complaints from the fellow professionals or the patients without having any fear of position or results. From the behavior of the mentee in the case, it shows that the mentor should have taken care of her behavior record at the last organization and must have made orientation to the work culture, policies and codes of practice in order to avoid any misbehavior with the patient which actually happened in the case. Thus the organization should have taken care of the past records before allowing anyone to assist the patient with hysterectomy in the ward. Thus the role of the organization in ensuring good practice is important along with the role of mentor in ensuring the understanding of the laws and codes of practice and making use of appropriate verbal and non verbal modes of communication with service users.

2.4 methods of improving communications

In the health and social care, the various methods are used to communicate with the service users including signs, gestures, words, touch, hearing or visual aids, graphics, use of translators, lip reading, etc and thus the health care organizations must arrange for training and seminars to improve the communication processes. Also the organization must arrange for proper sessions in order to ensure the workers or service providers are well versed with the laws and codes of practice while practicing including Duty of care. As in the case, the mentee was not aware of the duties towards the patients and asked for the intervention of a nurse in charge and a health care assistant while leaving the patient on the floor at the mercy of others in the ward. Thus the organization and the mentors must arrange for the training, orientation and workshops for the people new to the organization in order to make them aware of the laws and policies including the duties while delivering care to a service user along with the acceptable ways of behavior, tone of voice and other communication aspects (Reeves et al, 2011).

Lo 3 information and communication technology

3.1 standard software ict packages to support work in health and social care

There are various software in the field that help in providing support to the service users in the health and social care called ICT (Information and communication technology). These are very useful in monitoring of the health of the patients like Health Care through Intelligent Monitoring (HCIM) which is designed for meeting the concerns of the ageing and health monitoring in the case of Europeans. This software helps the patients to follow the therapy and help the rehabilitation patients at their homes and care organizations (Consorzio, 2015).

Thus such systems helps in tracking the data about the health especially in the ageing patients and allow for making of new policies for improving the health and well being of the people in the society. On using this software in monitoring the adherence of the patients to the particular health therapy including the following of the physiotherapy treatments designed for their health improvement. The Monitoring software designed for cardiac patients includes mobile based monitoring of the heart rate and the cardiac activity in the heart patients and signaling alerts by syncing information with centralized servers.

3.2 benefits of ict software’s for care users, workers and organizations

These ICT software help in increasing the speed and efficiency in providing care by the health care providers and allows for the communication and personalization of the information and thus helps the management or the service provider organization in effective delivery of care through development of relationship with the service users (Parrott et al, 2008). It helps the doctors to compare and analyze the reports of the patients at the clicks of computers. Also it allows the monitoring of the pulse rate, breathing, blood glucose and other vital signs very easily and allows more time to focus on the patients. One such software is Electronic Health Record which helps the doctors or health care providers in keeping track of the medical history of any individual at care and reduces the errors in practice by enabling to keep all the records including history and medical imaging data at a single place through use of software (Murray, 2011). Also the service users are benefitted through use of software enabling electronic speech devices and diabetics monitoring their blood sugar levels with ease. Also, monitoring of vital signs in the patient through use of laptops in ambulance and emergency wards helps better care services to patients. However, the hackers could leak the information of the patients which would be against the law of confidentiality of the patient information and in case of the crash, all the important data related to the patient or service user can be lost. Also training is required to operate such systems and it would need additional investment on part of doctors or health care organizations.

3.3 legal considerations on use of ict impact on health and social care

There are many legal issues with the use of ICT software in health and social care. The Health and Safety at work Act, 1974 entails all the organizations to take care of the employees and this goes for the health care organizations as well. While making use of the ICT software and technology, the employees are faced with eye strain due to continuous working on computers and other such computerized devices, causing pain in the arms and upper limbs and leading to posture problems or strain injury due to use of modern technology for long. Thus the employers are supposed to ensure the health and well being of the health care workers thus the Display Screen Equipment Regulation 1992 aims to protect health of the employees working on computerized monitoring systems (Burks et al, 2012). Also the employees are supposed to report any actions at workplace that has a poor impact on their or others overall health and well being to the employing organization in accordance with RIDORR Act 1995. Data Protection Act 1998 entails that all the personal information being placed on the computers systems must be protected through use of passwords and encryptions in order to allow for confidentiality of information that could get otherwise leaked. Computer Misuse Act 1990 allows for penalties for unauthorized use of computerized systems or hacking activities in order to ensure data privacy and protection.

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Conclusion

Communication is an important aspect of effectiveness in health and social care delivery. All the health care workers must be well skilled in making use of various theories including social exchange theory in order to improve the interpersonal communication with the service user or the patient. By undertaking the study of case of doctor and the patient Anna, it has been evident how the interpersonal communication is impacted between the two parties. All the health care workers must be skilled enough in order to make use of non verbal communications including sign language, gestures, visual aids, lip and face reading in order to analyze the situation of the patient when the patient could not speak out. Also in case of visually impaired or hearing impaired cases, the barriers in the communication must be removed by  decision making  use of appropriate aids and props. The various laws and policies apply to the practice which the care providers must be well versed with. The use of ICT software can help the health care workers in quick and convenient monitoring of the vital signs and keeping track of all the medical data related to an individual allowing for better services to the user.

References

Graham, B. and Steven, P. (2008). Your Foundation in Health and Social Care: A Guide for Foundation Degree Students. SAGE.
Krauss, R.M. and Fussell, S.R. (2014). Mutual knowledge and communicative effectiveness. In Galegher, J., Kraut, R.E. and Egido, C. (eds.). (2014). Intellectual teamwork: Social and technological foundations of cooperative work (2^nd edn). New York: Psychology Press, pp. 111-146.
Bell, D. (2010). "The impact of devolution - Long-term care provision in the UK" (PDF). Joseph Rowntree Foundation. (Online) available at https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/impact-of-devolution-long-term-care.pdf  last accessed on 3 July, 201Beresford, P., Croft, S. and Adshead, L. (2008). ‘We don’t see her as a social worker’: A service user case study of the importance of the social worker’s relationship and humanity. British Journal of Social Work, 38(7), pp. 1388-1407.
Gitterman, A. and Germain, C. B. (2013). The life model of social work practice: Advances in theory and practice. New York: Columbia University Press.
Burks, D.J. and Kobus, A.M. (2012). The legacy of altruism in health care: The promotion of empathy, prosociality and humanism. Medical Education, 46(3), pp. 317-325.
Parrott, L. and Madoc-Jones, I. (2008). Reclaiming information and communication technologies for empowering social work practice. Journal of Social Work, 8(2), pp. 181-197.
Reeves, S., Lewin, S., Espin, S. and Zwarenstein, M. (2011). Interprofessional teamwork for health and social care. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
About Culture (2011) (Online) available at http://www.jstubbs.com/THE%20INFLUENCE%200F20CULTURE%20UPON%20COMM UNICATION.pdf. last accessed on 3 July, 2016
How Practitioners use ICT in health and social care systems (2013) (Online) available at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/articles/ last accessed on 3 July, 2016