Airedale Care Home: Needs Assessment for Healthcare Training Proposal

This report presents a proposal for a needs assessment focused on healthcare training, specifically within the context of Airedale care home. It begins with an introduction to the concept of needs assessment and its significance in the healthcare sector, emphasizing its role in identifying gaps between current practices and desired outcomes. The literature review explores the concept of needs assessment and various methods such as key informant interviews, community meetings, and surveys. The report highlights the importance of training for care workers, addressing areas such as communication skills, record-keeping, and knowledge of advanced technologies and relevant legislations. The proposal outlines the role of needs assessment in training, emphasizing its utility in planning, prioritizing, and forecasting future requirements. The report concludes by underscoring the benefits of needs assessment in enhancing service quality, improving staff performance, and ultimately, meeting the unmet health needs of patients, with the goal of improving Airedale's brand and patient care.

Proposal on
Needs assessment for training
in health care

Table of Contents
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH........................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................2
Concept of needs assessment and its methods............................................................................2
Requirement of training among care workers at Airedale care home.........................................3
Role of need assessment in training at Airedale care Home ......................................................4
METHODS .....................................................................................................................................6
Research aim and objectives ......................................................................................................6
Research approach......................................................................................................................6
Research design...........................................................................................................................6
Sampling.....................................................................................................................................7
Gaining access.............................................................................................................................7
Ethical & research governance approval ....................................................................................7
Data collection............................................................................................................................8
Data analysis ..............................................................................................................................8
Strengths and limitations of the proposal....................................................................................9
Timetable.....................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

TITLE
Needs assessment for training in health care
BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH
Need assessment is the systematic process of identifying the gap between existing and
desire condition. It assists in resolving the working issues and providing quality services to end
users. It is essential in health care sector as it helps in collecting the relevant informations so that
organizations can make necessary changes to give quality treatment to population (Trinh-
Shevrin, Kwon and Islam, 2015). It is beneficial in improving the treating methods and to make
professionals aware about the latest technologies. Need assessment in health care is the essential
tool which aids to identify the unmet health and health care needs of the public.
It is the refinement approach which aids to understand the care needs of local public and
according to those hospitals can train to their staff members so that they would be able to met
with their desires. It is significant in improving the service planning, setting priority and to
develop policy (Morrato, Rabin and Kempe, 2015). Need assessment and training are interrelated
as firm can analysis the improvement areas, individual can work for developing on it by
providing related training. Training helps in providing standards of services towards service
users and to enhance knowledge of practitioners so that they can know about the latest
techniques and equipment sand can utilize them effectively.
Trained employees can perform better in the organization and will be able to deal with
complex situations easily. It will be helpful in raising the standards of Airedale, apart from this,
need assessment of training will be beneficial to reduce the cot of the firm and to control over the
activities. The rationale behind conducting the present research on needs assessment is to analyse
their weak points which are required to improve so that doctors and medical staff can provide
standards quality services to patients (Starmer and Lipsitz, 2014). Research is important in
enhancing the confidence of practitioners so that they can put their best affords to reduce
mortality rates of the trust. In addition to this research is essential for enhancing the brand name
of the health care organization. Needs assessment will be beneficial in increasing knowledge of
care providers and they will be able to serve better to service users by getting appropriate
training. Ultimate objective of the care unit is to provide impressive services to patients and to

improve their health so this research will help in achieving the goal of the organization so that
medical professionals will be able to meet with the unmet health needs of them (Bowling, 2014).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of needs assessment and its methods
According to the view of Peyrot, Burns and Willaing, it is stated that need assessment is
the reviewing method to identify the current practices and knowing the improvement areas in
professionals (Peyrot, Burns and Willaing, 2013). It is the well known fact that by analysing the
needs, organization become able to set priorities and modify the polices in such manner which
can help to improve the operations. As per the opinion of Lee and Jarvik, need assessment is
useful resource which helps in improving the health of population in the efficient manner.
Allocation of resources can be done by identifying the basic needs of employees (Lee and Jarvik,
2014). According to the view of Wynn Jr and Williams, it is stated that, need assessment
determines the gap between envision of Airedale and its current position.
As aim of the Airedale is to provide quality services to patients for reducing the mortality
rate in the care home (Wynn Jr and Williams, 2012). By analysing the actual requirement
organization can develop a plan of action which can bring it closer to its desired future. Medical
professionals work continuously for the betterment of service users, this concept assists in
determining the level of training required by the employees for providing excellent services to
end users. According to the view of Pfefferbaum, Newman and Nitiéma, needs assessment is the
strategic planning process which confirms the planning, develop the new mission furnish a sense
of direction and identify the required resources for reducing the gap between actual and expected
goal (Pfefferbaum, Newman and Nitiéma, 2014). There are several methods which can be used
by Airedale for conducting need assessment.
According to the view of Gazzaniga and Heatherton, Key informant interviews is the
effective method to identify the level and needs of training, in which Airedale can organize
intensive interviews with doctors, nurses and other administrative staff those who are associated
with the care trust (Gazzaniga and Heatherton, 2015). It is the beneficial concept and provide a
way to get in depth information about their feeling and perspectives. Which can give appropriate
answers about their current situation and level and firm can identify that how much training
require to an individual in the Airedale.

As per the opinion of Guthrie, Community meetings are great method of needs
assessment, it includes gathering information from a larger group or population astir their
opinion for Airedale and its services (Guthrie, 2015). They can give in depth knowledge about
the situation so that organization can know type of improvement needed in the firm and
according to this it can train its staff members for meeting with the needs. Survey is another
method of needs assessment, In which Airedale can collect data from relevant sources and can
evaluate it for creating statistical summary of thoughts, belief and opinion of patients so that it
can know where transformation and grooming required so that it can provide necessary training
in this area. It can be done by filling questionnaires with them so that they can write their views
about treatment methods and can suggest areas of improvements.
Requirement of training among care workers at Airedale care home
Training is the tool which helps in improving the performance of individual in the
workplace. It enhances the knowledge and experience of professionals so that they can serve
better to service users and can enhance their technical and operational knowledge in health care
sector. According to the view of Rani, Yadav and Jain, it is stated that approx 71% care provides
in Airedale are needed training. They are working with previous old machineries and having no
knowledge about the advancement and technologies (Rani, Yadav and Jain, 2016). That is the
responsibilities of care providers to give quality care to patients but due to poor informations
they are far behind it.
Need assessment is essential to identify the training requirements of doctors and nurses.
There are many areas to which a professional has to deal such as individual has to behave
politely with patients, has to treat them well etc. According to the view of Azhdarzadeh, Saei and
Mahmoudi, Airedale required to give training its staff member about the communication skill.
Some patients of the care home are unable to understand the language because they belong to
other nation (Azhdarzadeh, Saei and Mahmoudi, 2015). So firm is required to train their staff
about the sign language so communication barriers can be minimized. Verbal and non verbal
coordination is the most important part in health care sector. It is necessary that service users
communicate properly with doctors and other medical professionals, for that staff members of
Airedale needed training in the area so that they can improve their conversation and can provide
appropriate treatment to them.

As per the opinion of Michael, staff members of Airedale requires training on recording
keeping process (Michael, 2012). It is essential that hospital maintains the records of all visitors
and patients so that in future if service use come again so that can provide excellent services to
them by looking their previous history. Medial professionals needed training about legislation
which are necessary to follow in the health care home. Data protection act is the important
regulation which is essential to follow by hospitals strictly. Care providers needed training about
the security system so that they do not like the important information of patients with anyone.
According to the opinion of Stanley, staff members require training about treating and caring
methods, advanced technologies and equipments are taking place so they need to be up dated so
that they care provide quality care to all patients (Stanley, 2013). Medical professionals of
Airedale are required to improve their treating techniques such as rehabilitative, medical,
primary care so that they can understand the level of disease of persons and according to its
condition they can operate them effectively.
Role of need assessment in training at Airedale care Home
Need assessment is an essential tool which can help in making planning and forecasting
the future requirements. According to the view of Christiansen, it helps to reduce gap between
employee skills and desired ability (Christiansen, 2014). Grooming needs categorization assists
in setting the priorities and setting benchmarking to get optimistic output. As health care
organization works for providing the quality services to patients and reduce their mortality rates.
Same is with the Airedale, as it workers for giving standards services to service users so that
their health can get improved soon. This need assessment method can help employer to analyse
the weaker portion so on those it can provide them appropriate training. This can give better
results to firm and can enhance its brand image.
As per he views of Wahyuni, it is stated that with the help of necessity categorization,
seniors identify the improvement areas and plan to modify the existing process to accomplish the
desired objective (Wahyuni, 2012). Changes can be made by giving proper training to
employees, they can develop their knowledge and skills. According to the view of Nogueira,
Romero and Molina, role of need assessment in training is very encouraging and provide new
direction so that they can improve their productivity and performance (Nogueira, Romero and
Molina, 2013). Schedule can be planned easily by assessing the needs that where, whom

and what training is required in the workplace. So that employer of Airedale can conduct the
training programs for all medical professionals. Administrative staff needs to behave politely
with patients so they require training of improving communication skill, seniors need
information about the latest technology so that they can provide quality treatment to all service
users, Lower staff need education on legislation so that they follow all regulation strictly and can
keep secure the data of patients. Identification of area of improvement can easily determine by
need assessment in the health care organization.
Role of assisting the needs are impactful as it helps to provide possible solution of issues
and open the ways of growth. It assists to meet with the target level of performance, aim of
Airedale is to provide standardised services to patients for that it is necessary to know how it can
be achieved. By needs assessment, organization can give them appropriate training on lacking
points and can enhance its brand name by meeting with the objective. Forecasting is the major
benefit of need categorization, future planning can be done easily by identifying the future
requirements of people. As some employees of care home need high salaries so company can
provide them extra benefits or accommodation to make them loyal towards the organization.
This can help to retain talent in the firm for longer period. In addition to this satisfied workers
easily discuss the issue and improvement requires by individual in the meetings and interviews.
According to the view of Saunders and Bezzina, need assessment review all the performance and
find the way where improvement needed by the medical professionals and provide them training
on such point. It develops healthy relationship between care providers and service users
(Saunders and Bezzina, 2015).
In depth training on necessary place aids in improving the overall performance of doctors
and they serve better to patients thus, it develops strong relationship with them. It develops
communication between service users and practitioners thus better care can be provided by them.
Need assessment in training assists assist to identify the future resource which is required to
perform well. Advanced treating methods can be get by the care providers and through training
they can maintain the standards of the workplace and can give them appropriate treatment. As
per the view of Saunders and Bezzina needs assessment develops the problem solving skills of
workers, some staff members are under confident about their treating methods so with the help of
this, Airedale can boost their morales by asking them in interviews about the current situation

and needs of them. It helps in enchaining the overall performance of the employee and individual
provide effective care to patients (Saunders and Bezzina, 2015).
METHODS
Research aim and objectives
Aim:
To critically analyses the role of needs assessment for training in health care- a study of
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust (Supino and Borer, 2012).
Objective:
 To study the concept of needs assessment and its methods
 To identify the requirement of training among care workers at Airedale care home
 To assess the role of need assessment in training at Airedale
 To suggest certain need assessment methods for training in health care.
Research approach
Research approach is the technique which assists to move forward to the research. There
are three main approaches; inductive, deductive and abductive. In the present research on needs
assessment, inductive approach will be followed. The reason of choosing this approach is that
through this research will move from specific to general theories. It will aid to obtain a broad
picture of the phenomenon and describe the significance of needs assessment in training in
healthcare (Dudovskiy, 2016).
Research design
Research design is the detailed outline of the research, it includes methods of data
collection, instruments which will be chosen for completing the research on needs assessment.
There are many types of research design are as descriptive, correlational, semi experimental,
review and meta analytic. Present research on needs assessment will be based on the descriptive
design. Rationale behind choosing this design is to get in-depth knowledge about the topic and
existing condition. With the help of descriptive design, picture and role of participates will be
presented in an accurate manner (Training needs assessment of health care professionals in a
developing country: the example of Saint Lucia, 2016).

Sampling
Sampling is the systematic process which includes predetermined number of observations
from large population for statistical analysis. Samples collect from the target audience for
making judgement. There are two types of sampling, probability and non – probability.
Probability section includes random and stratified samples whereas non – probability includes
Quota, purposive and convenience samples. For the present research purposive sampling will be
followed in respect of needs assessment. The sample will be senior managers of the Airedale.
Sample size for this research will be 25. Rationale behind choosing this technique is that it works
on specific purpose and target only particular persons from which accurate data can be collected.
Hence, it will help the researcher to focus on the particular sections which have interest in the
research of needs assessment and those who are ale to give accurate answer (Dudovskiy, 2016).
This will further assist in collection of relevant and reliable data which will lead to achievement
of aims ad objectives of the study.
Gaining access
For carrying out the present research on Airedale NHS trust, primary data is to be
collected from the respondents. For this, it will be important to gain access to the participants so
that the data could be obtained within the available time. For gaining access, permission will be
taken from the trust. After obtaining the permission, the participants will be contacted and
questionnaires will be provided to them.
Ethical & research governance approval
Ethical approval is a vital necessity for every research. Ethics ensure that the research
being conducted is fair on all moral grounds. Ethical approval need to be sought if the research
involves human participants. While carrying out the present study on needs assessment at
Airedale trust, approval will be taken from the ethics research committee. The committee will
evaluate the ethical aspects of the present study (Michael, 2012).
As this study will involve human subjects, ethical issue may arise if prior permission is not taken
from the respondents. Hence the researcher will ensure to obtain permission from the
respondents before conducting the research. This will ensure that the principle of voluntary
participation is followed and none of the participants are forced to take part in the study. Further,
ethical considerations of confidentiality and privacy will also be taken into account. The

researcher will ensure to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the information provided by the
respondents.
Research governance refers to the process through which quality of research is ensure. It
further includes protection of dignity, safety, rights and well-being of the people who are
involved in research. The present research on needs assessment at Airedale involves senior
managers of the trust who will be providing the primary data for the study. Hence, governance
approval will be obtained prior to commencing the research (Stanley, 2013). This will include
various checks such as relevance of the research, appropriateness of methods, dissemination
plans, research ethics etc.
Data collection
Data collection is the simple process of gathering the relevant informations. There are
two types of methods of data collection those are primary and secondary. Primary data collection
is the form in which all reliable information gathers by the persons those who have direct interest
in and are linked with the need assessment of health care. For the present research on needs
assessment in the Airedale, primary data will be collected by the senior managers of the Airedale
care trust by using survey and questionnaire techniques. Questionnaire will have open and close
ended questions so that relevant results will be gained. Survey will help in knowing manger's
view about needs assessment of training in health care. Questionnaire will help in getting more
accurate answers and getting the reliable information (Wahyuni, 2012). Secondary sources are
those informations which are gathered by common sources. For the present research on needs
assessment secondary sources are journals, books, online articles blogs, website of Airedale.
With the help of these resource's researcher will be able to gain maximum reliable information
about the need assessment of training in health and care.
Data analysis
Data analyses is the techniques which help in inspecting, transforming and modelling
data for getting appropriate information and to make proper decisions regarding research of
needs assessment. It is the process of evaluating the data and examine it with the use of
analytical and logical methods. Major two types of process used for conducting the research that
is qualitative and quantitative. In the present study of needs assessment qualitative data analyses

with the help of thematic technique will be followed. It will help in identifying the themes in
relation to needs assessment, charts, graphs will be included in the research project (Dudovskiy,
2016).
Strengths and limitations of the proposal
Strengths:
Research on needs assessment uses the method of purposive sampling which is the
strength of the proposal. As it saves time of, money and efforts. By using this technique
Airedale become able to gather accurate, relevant and reliable data within short period. As it is
non probability method so researcher can use wide critical cases and expert sampling for
examining the specific topic of needs assessment in health care.
Limitations:
For completing the research, researcher was having limited time period so it was the
biggest limitation of this study on needs assessment in context to Airedale. In the short period it
was quite difficult to gain maximum informations from reliable resources (Training needs
assessment of health care professionals in a developing country: the example of Saint Lucia,
2016).
Proposal uses survey technique for collecting the data it was another limitation of the
research. As respondent were unable to give detail information so theoretical analyses was
difficult. Some respondent were not aware with the situation so they did not give accurate
answers. Some questions were non responses so data error was the biggest issue in this research.
Timetable
Time scale for each activity is presented below with the help of Gantt chart:
Activity 1st
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5th
Week
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Formulating aims
and objectives
Carrying out
Literature Review
Gathering of
primary data
Data collection of
secondary

Analytic thinking
of Data
Judgement
Recommendations
Revising the
research
CONCLUSION
From the above research it can be concluded that needs assessment is an important
activity. With the help of it health care organization can analyses the lacking areas and points
which are needed improvement and according to these they can provide them effective training
so that medical professionals can provide patients quality care. Above study has discussed about
the research approaches, inductive approach helped in getting broad ideas from the specific
situations. Research has used the descriptive design by this way huge relevant data has been
collected for completing this investigation. It helped in getting in touch with mass audience with
the help of questionnaire. Open and close ended questions have supported to know the need
assessment of training in Airedale. By this way people will be able to enhance their skills and
knowledge and will serve better to patients. Research has presented the time scale with the help
of Gantt Chart which supported the Airedale in knowing the actual time scale of each activity.