Healthcare: Providing Effective Care and Support to Patients

Running head: HEALTHCARE
HEALTHCARE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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February 2018 to date:
Health Care Assistant (HCA), Elysium Mental Health Hospital.
Being a Health Care Assistant (HCA) and serving at the Elysium Mental Health
Hospital, it was my responsibility to provide appropriate support and care to the new patient,
who are admitted to the hospital and help them to enhance their knowledge on the ward they
have been admitted to. It was achieved by the use of a better and effective communication
skills, empathy and an advanced team work. An effective communication within a health care
setting helps in developing a better therapeutic relationship and it also enhances the team
working skills. The practice of active listening is also one of the important factor in providing
better care and treatment to the patients and understand the concern of other people in a better
manner while working as a collective team. Compassion is also a care providing measure
which focuses on building a therapeutic relationship on the basis of respect, understanding,
and self-esteem.
I joined Elysium Mental Health Hospital as a Health Care Assistant (HCA), and the
very first assignment that was to given to me was to provide care and support to a new patient
belonging to the elderly age group. The patient was suffering from severe headache and while
he had arrived at the hospital his condition was getting worse and he required immediate
attention of the nursing staffs or healthcare providers. Severe headache is one the most
frequent issue that affects the elder population. Headache is caused due to pressing of
trigeminal nerve that is very prevalent in the older people and leads to the condition of
migraine or sever paediatric mixed headache. The moment he was admitted, our team went
through his treatment records where it was showed that he had Learning difficulties, the
information stated that he must be also witnessing difficulty in verbal communication.

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Therefore, it was crucial for the staff members to develop a healthy therapeutic relationship
with him that will assist them in improving his health condition as soon as possible.
During the time of attending the patient, a nursing staff along with two of the hospital
patrons visited the ward for inspection. While examining the ward, the hospital patrons
approached to us asking about the treatment and other ward details, the elderly patient
mistook the conversation and thought that the hospital patrons were getting informed about
his health condition and severity. He suddenly started to get upset, started to cry and started
behaving in a tough manner, which was difficult to handle and control. In order to bring him
in control and calm him down, and solve the complex situation I and other nursing staffs tried
to handle him with affection and explained him what actually the matter was and finally we
controlled him by talking to him and listening to his concern in a very pleasant and
comforting way. I understood that sometimes we have to use our individual communication
and problem-solving skills to solve the complex situations like this and handle the patient
with ease.
The inspection was going on throughout the hospitals, as the patrons were monitoring
and assessing the condition of the hospital and the work of the staffs. It was almost three
weeks of me working on this specific ward and I felt a bit unsure about my role in the team I
was working with. It was my first job as a fresher, I had a very low self-confidence and was
not able to confidently take independent decision regarding the care and treatment providing
and other possible steps. The lack of confidence, nervousness, and self-esteem was making it
difficult for me to take active part in the decision making or appropriate care giving process
and it is important to get involved in the team to provide the treatment and care in a much
better and effective manner.