Safe and Effective Practice in Health and Social Care

1
Safe and Effective Practice in health and social care
Name of Student
Institution
Tutor
Date

2
Introduction
Holistic care is comprehensive or total patient care that puts into consideration the physical,
emotional, social, spiritual, and economic needs of an individual. The individual's response to
illness and the impact such illness has on his or her life is fundamental for the ability to meet
specific health care needs (Jackson, 2012). People with physical disabilities, developmental
problems, the elderly, and those suffering from illness require specialized holistic care to
promote and improve their health. Holistic care involves the integration and coordination of
care that would improve the outcomes and enhance the satisfaction of the patient. It embraces
a patient-centered approach which expects the most out of the care provided. Generally,
holistic care aims at treating a whole person, for instance, it deals with mind, body, and spirit
(Neill, 2014). Therefore, it is a combination of all the traditional methods and complementary
medicine. For example, a holistic way of dealing with cancer disease is using chemotherapy
and acupuncture.
Residential care refers a long-term care given to adults or children who stay in a residential
setting rather than in their homes. As a residential care person, I would be meeting various
groups of people for instance, people with disabilities, mental health problems, and
difficulties in learning among others. However, if home care is not available, residential care
can be applied to take care of these vulnerable groups. More specifically, residential care
provider is a person that deals with provision of personal care services to children and adults
who are cannot live independently. Since the residential care is an interactive job, an
individual should possess the following qualities;
 Excellent oral and written communication skills
 Good teamwork and interpersonal skills
 Empathy and emotional recognition (Choi and Zucker, 2013).

3
Holistic care and its relation to respect and dignity
Holistic care increases the understanding of the needs of the patient which plays a key role in
improving the health of a patient. It has been reported that in many hospitals, care assistants
are not allowed to perform their responsibilities independently as they are constantly
supervised by doctors. The application of holistic care will enable nurses or other care
providers apart from doctors to do their work independently resulting in major changes in the
method of treatment. Ordinary treatment methods without holistic care approaches expose the
patient to certain threats, prolong the time of stay in the hospital, and escalate the cost of
treatment. Although there are a lot of benefits of holistic care, some countries' health care
systems do not appreciate it. Examples of such countries are Iran, USA, and the UK. Reports
indicate that a large percentage of patients in these countries do not receive holistic care in
hospitals and care centers. Dignity-centered care is attached to the maintenance of mutual
dignity between the patient and health care systems. It embraces the interpersonal process of
effective communication where the participants communicate to a level of understanding one
another. The importance of human dignity in the nursing field is to protect the face of the
patient and ensure that the care given to him or her is a holistic care approach. The dignity-
centered care is to offer protection of ethical codes and consequently consider the codes as a
framework of human rights.
The importance of safe and effective practices for better health care
Health care is a vital issue in human life. It is believed that the current health care system is
highly complex and prone to errors. More importantly, health care errors and other adverse
effects contribute immensely to death and injury on individuals (Captivo, Marques and Moz,
2015). However, health care providers have come up with well-documented strategies for the
prevention of these errors. The current discussion on medical errors has given focus on the

4
best methods of reducing the risk of harm emanating from systems, processes, and
environments. Patient safety practice has been defined as strategies or methods of reducing
the dangerous effects which are linked to medical practices.
Health care systems are complex in nature and this sometimes makes it difficult to understand
certain aspects. The World Health Organization has come up with certain strategies which are
necessary to strengthen the structures of health care systems across the world to ensure that
health care practices are safe and to prevent dangerous occurrences in hospitals (Ko, 2013).
The safety of patients is as important as that of health care workers. Proper infrastructure
within the hospitals is the first step in ensuring that both patients and health care providers are
safe. There must be properly built rooms equipped with necessary amenities. The rooms must
be well-ventilated for health purposes. A safe environment is fundamental for effective social
care delivery. Guidance and counseling are some of the social care practices constantly
practiced in hospitals. These practices need a conducive environment where patients can feel
free to share their problems with the care provider (Leape, 2016).
To ensure that safe practices for better health care are achieved, doctors, nurses, and other
health care providers must have adequate training to help them understand the need for safety
and to give them an insight of what they need to do to ensure their safety and that of patients
is taken care of.
The importance of interpersonal communication skills in nursing
Communication is a vital thing in our everyday life. Without communication, we cannot be
able to carry out our daily activities and we are good as dead. Communication can be
categorized into two; verbal and non-verbal communication. Both forms of communication
are vital in our daily life (Thompson and Bucher, 2013). Communication is necessary for the