Reflective Report: Healthcare Assistant Experience at Elysium Hospital

This report provides a reflective account of a Healthcare Assistant's (HCA) experience at Elysium Mental Health Hospital. The report details the HCA's responsibilities in providing care and support to patients, particularly focusing on a new elderly patient with learning difficulties. It highlights the importance of effective communication, empathy, and teamwork in building therapeutic relationships and addressing complex situations. The report describes an incident during a hospital inspection where the patient became distressed, emphasizing the need for improved communication and patient privacy. The HCA reflects on the learning experiences gained, including the importance of understanding patient needs, developing self-confidence, and the impact of teamwork on patient care. The report also discusses the significance of leadership qualities, maintaining professional boundaries, and adhering to legal and ethical values in healthcare, as well as maintaining patient confidentiality. The HCA identifies personal growth in communication, leadership, and handling critical situations, and emphasizes the need for continuous learning and reflection in the healthcare setting.

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.

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As I started getting involved and learnt about the team i have been working with, in a
much extended manner, I observed that, the team was not providing appropriate care and
treatment to the patient. They were not focusing on the needs and individuality of the patient,
and were providing treatment in general. After the incident of the patient during the patron
inspection, I acquired an effective learning experience as being a new recruit and a fresher at
Health Care Assistant (HCA). From the incident, I acquired the knowledge and importance of
understanding a patient’s need and the benefit of providing safer, healthy and comfortable
care surrounding with effective treatment. I understood that my target as an individual health
care assistant was to provide effective care and support to the patient and help the patient to
be comfortable within the organization. As the days passed, I gained more and more
knowledge and understanding about different types of patients and their health condition,
their needs and requirement they seek from us and also the importance of having self-
confidence and team work. My role was to take down notes of the vital signs while
evaluating the patients with their treatment process and the medication administration of the
patient. Apart from this, I was provided with another most important role which was to
provide care and support to the patient. I was sure that I had to develop a self-effective target
that would help me to manage time and achieve the target with best patient outcome. The aim
of protection was to maintain high level of patient’s confidentiality, which was not
maintained and achieved by the hospital as the nursing staff who was addressing the patrons
for the inspection, should have informed us earlier regarding the complete scenario and focus
on the patient’s condition to avoid such distress condition. The team I was working with also
failed to handle the situation and could not take any quick action when the condition was
escalating. From this incident, I came to know that my team I had poor communication skill
due to lack of corporation, which was eventually creating a condition of deprived treatment
process. The team was not discussing the work, updates or results with each other that was

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leading to treatment error with poor care and support. Hence, this complete scenario was
effecting the health of the patient’s, as the needs and the requirements were not addresses
properly.
There are evidences which suggest that, the individuals suffering from learning
difficulties witness complications in adapting change, and they face the difficulty of
challenging behaviour while dealing with the people or situation, who are out of their comfort
zone (Nursing Times 2004). As it has been suggested by Nursing Times (2004), that the
health care professional needs to provide high-level of commitment to develop effective
interaction with the patients and other health care staffs by the means of learning and
conducting reflective practice on their professional practice and work. In order to provide
better care and treatment, the health care professionals need to assess the patient during the
time of admission and a treatment plan should be prepared according to their condition. It has
been also stated that, a better communication with the patients suffering from learning
difficulties is proved to be an effective measure to assess an individual’s difficulties and
needs. Hence, developing an effective or therapeutic communication with the patient will be
useful for changing the severe health condition. There are various evidences which state that,
lack of communication is one of the reasons behind various numbers of problems which
affects people suffering from learning disability during their assessment of health care. Better
communication is found to provide an enhanced state of understanding and also helps in
patient advocacy which is an important factor in patient care giving and is highly promoted
from various contemporary evidence-based intervention. The importance of equality and
respect of the patient has been advocated by the Nursing and Midwifery council (NMC) Code
based on the professional standards which include priorities of individual, effective treatment
providing, maintain safety and promoting professionalism and building trust.

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After the complete analysis of the team, I understood my role and the need of accurate
documentation of the food and fluid intake, vital signs, and the need of constant observations
and reporting of any kind of concerns associated with the patient, and the involved nursing
staff. After my experience, I have developed my ability of active listening and I have also
learnt to effectively communicate with the patient within the professional boundaries, both
orally as well as in writing. I understood that in order to take appropriate action, it is crucial
to first listen to the concern of the patient, and then understand what is the need and
requirement of the other person. I understood that, how an effective communication and
listening to the patient can make the treatment and care much easier and helpful for both the
nursing staff as well as the patient. We practice communicating with each other among the
team that will enhance the team work and help us to treat any patient with ease. I also
developed my leadership qualities because I started working with the new recruits and learnt
the necessary skills that will help me to build better therapeutic relationship qualities with the
patient and their family members, and also with other health care professionals. While
working as a team, I understood the importance of leadership quality and how it helps you to
manage a team with a better care and treatment plan for patient. This wold further help me to
work effectively in an unpredictable situation and manage the complex situation with ease
and confidence. As we were all working together, there were conditions where the thoughts
and knowledge of any individuals were clashing and was creating a situation of conflict, thus
it was necessary to manage their work and area of work according to the need so that no
conflict can take place. Also, to ensure that no miscommunication occurs, at the end of the
day we conducted team meetings to discuss on the work and reports of each day, so that
everyone is updated. I have also learnt about the importance of professional boundaries,
respecting fellow staff members and also maintain the dignity and respect of the patients.
After working in a team, I understood the need and importance of an effective and supportive

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team, as it helps to assess patient and treat them in a much better manner, and involve
specialists from diverse background, as they will guide you in every step of the treatment
procedure. Hence, I identified the leadership qualities inside me, and also the capability to
handle critical conditions while dealing with a patient and also when the team has difficulty
in working together. I have also obtained greater knowledge and understanding regarding the
need of maintaining the legal and ethical values while providing care, support and treatment
to an individual, and also respecting their rights and cultural and religious choices. I was
accustomed with the need to maintain the nursing ethics as well as respecting the patient’s
value to provide better and effective care, as it will guide me to avoid any kind of misconduct
that might evolve during treatment procedure, medication error or impudence in the patient’s
views and opinions, which is considered as the important part of care giving process. As there
was a breach in the ethical practice of maintaining privacy of the patient’s health condition,
the patient got out of control and the health condition was also effected, which taught us the
need to maintain the privacy of a patients, health and treatment details.
After the complete experience, I gained a better learning experience regarding the
assessment of patient, understanding their needs and requirements and also learnt to work as
a team. I identified different aspect of my personal capabilities, such as leadership quality and
communication skills. I gained a vast range of knowledge during my experience that if in
future, any such situation occurs within my field of practice, I will be better equipped and
prepared to handle the condition focusing on my role and responsibilities by maintaining the
patient’s right. It can be stated that while caring and treating a patient with major difficulties
and distress, it is important to focus on sharing detailed information and accomplishing better
communication with the patient to avoid any complication of error in the treatment.
Additionally, I also understood the importance of the patient`s needs and have aimed towards
keeping the needs and requirement of the patients as the centre of care and treatment giving

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approach and will enhance my skills of dealing with patient suffering from learning
difficulties in my future practice by the implication of communication skills and assess their
requirements and needs. In my further practice and field of care giving, I will also enhance
my leadership quality within the team and I will also take decisions for the patient’s better
being in a much confident and logical manner with respect to the patient’s cultural and ethical
values. In order to develop my clinical practice and skills, professional reflective practice will
helpful for me to assess my errors, and things I need to improve to get better in providing
enhanced care and support to the patient. This complete experience helped me to mould
myself as a better individual in my filed of care giving and practice, and understand my
patient with the utmost concern that will help me in the patient recovery and wellbeing.