Engage in personal development in health, social care Essay

1.1 Describe the duties and responsibilities of own work role. I work with clients with Autism and/or a learning disability, within a supported housing setting. My current job role is as a ‘care assistant’. I am responsible for providing support to the service user’s, which includes: personal care, assisting with meal preparation, assisting with medication, organising service user finances, assisting with meal planning and maintaining records. The main purpose of my work is to assist and work alongside clients in their own homes and in the community, helping those clients to access and take part in a full range of community activities. It is my duty to enable clients to acquire and practise everyday living skills, to help make full use of the community resources and facilities and to help provide the personal care and supervision required by individual clients. I received an induction training course when I first joined the company, which provided specialised trai ning relating to the learning disability sector. I receive regular supervision with the house manager where I can discuss any problems, and get support. I can also request training, and my manager can highlight areas where I would benefit from further training in. I attend regular refresher courses in training, so that I am up to date with the current standards required for my role. I treat all service users with respect and dignity, and my work practices reflect and promote equal opportunities. I have read, and understand my Company’s policies and procedures, and am aware of what to do in most circumstances, and the correct reporting/recording procedures to follow. I always work in a professional manner, and ensure all service user information is kept up to date, and confidential. The main purpose of my work is to assist and work alongside clients in their own homes and in the community, helping those clients to access and take part in a full range of community activities. It is my duty to enable clients to acquire and practise everyday living skills, to help make full use of the community resources and facilities and to help provide the personal care and supervision required by individual clients. 1.2 Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards. My expectations about my work role are the same as a career as they would be  if I was a service user, I believe you should treat others how you would want to be treated yourself and I’d expect to be treated with dignity and respect In any job your will have standards that you must meet as written in your job description. These are usually ranged from minimum required standards to expected standards, to exceeding expectations. There are regulatory and statutory requirements that are relevant to specific industries which you must comply with for example the GSCC (general social care council) code of conduct would be met with OFSTED standards to provide duties for all employees and employers to comply with. I believe I am aware of all standards that need to be met in my job role at any given time and I make reflective practice a routine part of my job, and would ask my supervisor if I was ever unsure what standards apply to your role. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided. Reflective practice is important way of learning from experiences and improving services. These methods can determine what methods work well and what doesn’t work very well or not at all. Only when good and poor practices are identified can an accurate assessment of performance be made. Areas of good practice can be built on and repeated and any areas where the service could be improved would be identified and can be addressed with training, advice and support. 2.3 Describe how own values, belief systems and experiences may affect working practice. I believe your background and values are of upmost importance especially in this work setting, a naturally careering person undergoing a careers work role can find the experience very rewarding and very natural however an individual without these particular caring values could find the role a lot of effort and very demanding. Unfortunately I have gained my experience as a career due to a member of my family being autistic, this however as instilled in me a natural ability to provide all levels of care from challenging behaviour to personal care. Looking at this on a bigger scale I can see how this industry could just be a job to some people and therefore would maybe look at some duties as choirs rather than simply helping that person. What you determine as important and what you see as acceptable is an essential single-valued function of who you are. The way in which you respond to subjects or duties is linked to what you believe in, what you consider important and what interests you. You may find you react positively to people who share your values and less warmly to people who have different priorities. When you develop friendships, it is natural to spend more time with people who share your interests and values. However, the professional relationships you develop with people are another matter. As a professional, you are responsible to provide the same quality of support for all. Working in the care sector, you are bound to come across people whose views you do not agree with, and who never seem to understand your point of view. Awareness of differences, your reaction to them and how they affect the way you work is a crucial part of this role and your own professional development. If you allow your own preferences to dominate your work with people, you will inevitably fail to perform to the standards of the Codes of Practice. Beliefs can cause many issues in the care sector, from obvious reasons like the individual would accept only male or female carers to religious beliefs which can be very difficult to understand but is essential to get right to provide good care. If you were careering for an individual of a different religious background their beliefs would be of upmost importance to them and so you must respect that, this could affect a career in a number of ways for example this things in which they talk about, the clothes they wear and being to open with their own religious beliefs could upset the service user. Personal experiences I think play a major role in a persons desired job role, for example a young person who spent a lot of time as a child helping out their father on a building site would more than likely find a skill he or she liked within that industry as they have been introduced to it from a young age. A personal experience story I think answers this question very well is that of my si ster who in a mad panic last year through no choice of her own had to deliver our sisters baby and save his life after he had stopped breathing. Baby and mother all doing well now my sister has just started a midwifery course as she describes the experience as overwhelming and magical, This could lead to a full time job for my sister all spurred on by a personal experience. 4.1 Identify sources of support for planning and reviewing own development. As a large percentage of my job is homecare so my first source of support would be the house manager then the parents/family of the client, and in some cases depending  on the individual’s capacity and communication maybe the client themselves. From these I can learn what has worked in the past and what methods have been tried. I can also get the back story of the client to try and think of new methods and activities in order to help the client’s progression. The client would also have a service plan in their personal file where I can find most of the information I need. If I was working in a community centre I would first read the clients file to try and gather information to fuel my development in order to provide a better service. If I felt I needed more or just further development I could also speak to my seniors within the community centre. The company also hold more detailed files and information that I can access when I need in order to plan and or review development. We regularly receive supervision meetings to discuss any matters and to plan and review development. Here I can ask to be enrolled onto training courses I think would benefit me and my clients.