Report on Professional Practices in Health and Social Care for Adults

This report delves into professional practices within health and social care for adults, examining the influence of growth and development, loss and change, and sociological and psychological theories on healthcare delivery. It highlights the significance of statutory frameworks, principles, and values in service provision, emphasizing the importance of person-centered care and anti-discriminatory practices. The report also explores the use of evidence-based practices (EBP) to inform service provision, detailing the implementation and evaluation of EBP within a healthcare setting. Furthermore, it addresses the role of reflective practice models in improving service quality, including personal reflections on practice and strategies for encouraging reflective practices among colleagues. The report underscores the necessity of adapting to changes, understanding patient needs, and the application of ethical and legal considerations within the delivery of healthcare services.

Professional practice in health
and social care for adults

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
1.1 a. Growth and development theories underpinning HSC practices .....................................3
1.1 b. HSC practices related to self esteem and identity ............................................................3
1.1 c. Loss and change theory underpinning HSC practices ......................................................4
1.1 d. Impact of sociological and psychological theories on HSC practitioners ........................4
1.1 e. Discriminatory concepts affecting practices in HSC .......................................................4
2.1 Role of statutory frameworks, and principles in service provisions ....................................5
2.2 Principles and values influencing service provision in own settings ...................................5
2.3 Implementing statutory frameworks ....................................................................................5
2.4 Supporting others to implement values within service provisions .......................................6
3.1 Use of evidence based practices (EBP) for informing service provision .............................6
3.2 Implementing EBP within own setting.................................................................................6
3.3 Evaluating significance of EBP in own setting ....................................................................7
4.1 Role of models of reflective practices ..................................................................................7
4.2 a Using reflection on practice ..............................................................................................7
4.2 b. Use of reflection in practices ............................................................................................8
4.3 Culture supporting reflective practices ................................................................................8
4.4 Encouraging others to develop reflective practices .............................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Health and social care (HSC) practices are defined as the set of specialist skills and
knowledge so that effective health services can be improved and social as well as health well
being of individuals can be enhanced. The quality of the professional practices in HSC must be
highly precise and accurate. These HSC practices can be improved by several approaches. The
reflective learning, underpinning theories and principles in healthcare context plays crucial role
in improving the professional practices (Norwich and Eaton, 2015).
The report will analyse the impact of several theories which influences the HSC
practices. It will also discuss the significance of statutory frameworks and various HSC
principles on health service provision. Further the study will demonstrate the examples and role
of evidence-based and reflective practices in improving the HSC outcomes.
1.1 a. Growth and development theories underpinning HSC practices
The development theories provides the strong foundation for determining the rationale
for health concerns. For instance the cognitive theory describe the learning skills and ability of
individual while the psychodynamic theories affects the behaviour pattern of an individual.
During my practice at once I was attending a patient who was addictive to smoking. By applying
the psychodynamic and cognitive theory along with other development theory I was successful
to analyse that from childhood that person was alone without emotional support.
His loneliness and pain made him addictive to drugs and smoke. Thus on the basis of this
evaluation I recommended psychological assistance to him which made great improvement to his
condition. These theories analyse the factors which are developing the behavioural disturbances
so that health professionals can provide them necessary support (Payne, 2015).
1.1 b. HSC practices related to self esteem and identity
The identity of an individual describes how an individual perceives his or her existence
while the self esteem is associated with the self worth. During my clinical practice there was a
case when an adult tried to commit suicide because he was rejected by his girlfriend. It lead to
believe him that he is not worthy and thus he should end his life. In that situation I discussed
with other team members and decided that mere medications are not sufficient. Instead the
special therapies are also required so that his self esteem can be enhanced. This incident made
me learnt that the theories of self esteem and identity helps people to strongly withstand the

difficult situation. Thus it is vital for providing treatment of critical diseases in which strong will
power and positive attitude of patients is required (Identity and Self Esteem, 2019).
1.1 c. Loss and change theory underpinning HSC practices
While providing care services to the elderly people I have observed that it is very hard for
them to adopt changes. The changes in health condition and losses in life affects the decision
making processes in clinical interventions (Blue and et.al., 2016). I witnessed a cancer patient.
The adverse effects of therapy were enhancing her grief. Thus it was getting hard for me to
continue the treatment because she was not ready to listen me or any other health practitioner. At
that time I decided that palliative care are mandatory for such patients. Without understanding
the cause and relation between changes and grief I cannot analyse that if my service users are
providing positive response towards the treatment strategies or they need additional care.
1.1 d. Impact of sociological and psychological theories on HSC practitioners
As a health care professional I believe that the psychology of people plays great role in
addressing social issues. I have observed people who do not consider health care approaches and
practices effective. They have strong belief that they do not require to pay attention to the
changes reflected by body. This lead to failure in diagnosis of chronic diseases on time. On
certain social issues such as crime psychology or the advent of any rare disease are often
analysed from sociological perspective which make it impossible for me to treat (Using theory in
social work practice. 2012). For instance there are communities who evaluate diseases from
spiritual perspective. Such communities does not provide any cooperation during treatment
process. It directly influence my efficiency and accuracy in delivering the health services.
1.1 e. Discriminatory concepts affecting practices in HSC
In my transition period I always faced difficulties in working with multidisciplinary
teams. Being a novice health professional I was always discriminated from other experienced
professionals. They always believed that since I am new to clinical practice I must not be
involved in decision making or preparing care plan. The discriminatory factors such as cultural
differences, gender or racial factors also affected by practice. Due to my different culture many
patient does not find it suitable to receive treatment from me. Such discrimination on cultural
and gender basis always demotivate me and affect my self esteem (Chandler and et.al., 2016).
However I always try that being a responsible HSC professional I never make many

discriminative practices among my patients. Certain legal perspectives towards discrimination
strictly enforce me to abolish any kind of discrimination in healthcare services.
2.1 Role of statutory frameworks, and principles in service provisions
The service provision is defined as the joint application of medical equipments,
medication, professionals and other resources for providing quality health services. The statutory
framework are essential to assure that the devices or equipment used are safe (Glasby, 2017). As
a healthcare professional it is my responsibility that I must understand the need of people. My
values such as dedication, team work encourages me to work in a team so that holistic care is
provided to the patient. However I am also bounded with the various medical frameworks. For
instance if I am taking any critical decision related to the life of patient then I must inform this to
patient and his family members. I cannot simply apply my decision without acknowledging
them. The frameworks such as person centred care, anti-discriminatory frameworks and
legislations related to the safety of medical equipments and processes are always followed by
me. It helps me to avoid errors in healthcare services.
2.2 Principles and values influencing service provision in own settings
The values and HSC related principles are always an integral part of my professional
practice. I always feel that the service users of care can communicate with me openly. For this I
assure that their dignity and confidentiality are sustained. It is also possible that the cultural and
religious beliefs of individuals are not in alignment with my clinical practices (Stoddart and
Evans, 2017). In such situations I always focus on providing individualised care and ensure that I
never use any inappropriate remarks or actions which makes them feel uncomfortable. I also
ensure that in healthcare organisations also there is strict monitoring that me and other health
professionals are following these values and principles.
2.3 Implementing statutory frameworks
For implementing the statutory frameworks various principles and regulations provided
by care quality commission (CQC) and national health and safety policy. The HSC service
providers must ensure that there is internal monitoring and control committee which can assure
that standards of these frameworks are implemented within healthcare institutes (Batalden and
et.al., 2015). During my early years clinical practices there were training and induction
programs. In those programs I was provided guidance regarding these frameworks. Still in my

practice I never forget to neglect these frameworks. For instance the right to dignity and privacy
are important for the satisfaction of people thus before making any decision I always ask for their
consent and keep their data protected.
2.4 Supporting others to implement values within service provisions
The suitable guidance is essential for encouraging others to implement HSC values.
Especially the newly graduate healthcare professionals are required to understand the
significance and methods of implementing vales in service provisions (Lewin and et.al., 2015).
Thus whenever I have opportunity to work in a team with the new trainees then I share my
experience and need of these values so that they can also bring these values in their practices. I
regularly interact with the family members of the patients so that I can understand what
improvements they are demanding. The feedbacks received from communities helps to
determine the operational areas which are in great needs of supporting values.
3.1 Use of evidence based practices (EBP) for informing service provision
The EBP enhances accountability and transparency in the service provisions. My
interaction with the patients and carers gives me feedback that what improvements can be made
to improve care quality. The EBP describes the rationale for choosing the particular equipment
or method of treatment so that there is transparency and trust relation between me and service
users (Duggan and et.al., 2015). I am accountable towards the decisions made by me in order to
provide health support to the patients. The key advantage of EBP is that it can help me to
minimize the gap between uncertain in healthcare decisions and critical time which is required to
overcome barriers in providing healthcare services.
3.2 Implementing EBP within own setting
Within own setting I can implement the EBP by accomplishing following stages.
 I must communicate effectively with the patients so that they can share their issues easily
without any hesitation.
 On the basis of the information received I must try to collect the latest research and
advanced practices in the same context so that I can receive the most appropriate solution
for providing holistic and persona centric care approach (Townsend and Morgan, 2017).

 In order to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of my research I also incorporate my
clinical experience, available clinical resources in healthcare setting as well as
preferences and situation of patient.
 The implementation of evidences after evaluation of results makes my HSC practices
highly effective. For instance when I use electonic health record data for storing the
medical history of patient or use smartphone to communicate with other healthcare
professionals then in future I get benefits in making decisions and solving problems.
3.3 Evaluating significance of EBP in own setting
The EBP help me to provide services as per the standard and verified protocols. Thus
with this approach I can deliver cost effective and accurate healthcare services. With the help of
evidences it becomes easy to take decisions which are based upon real time data instead of
theoretical concepts only (Dickinson and O'Flynn, 2016). Especially in critical situations of
patients I can deliver the necessary health outcomes by this approach in minimum time duration.
From my practices I have also analysed that instead of using same theory or clinical method to
every individual the consistency of the treatment approaches must be evaluated with the values
of patients. It will provide more effective outcomes and improvements in their health.
4.1 Role of models of reflective practices
The reflective practice models plays an important role in improving the quality of
healthcare services. My clinical experiences and learnings from them are very helpful in
determining the better health intervention. When I have to deal with patients with critical
situation then I always recall than how experienced professionals and my seniors managed the
similar situations. The learnings from my experience make it easy for me to have clear
perception of ethical and required decision and improvement methodology. In my opinion these
reflective learnings helps me to minimize the risk of failure or clinical negligence.
4.2 a Using reflection on practice
The evaluation of the decisions and practices is vital so that I can improve my efficiency.
This is possible when I will apply reflection approach on my practices. For every decisions and
care interventions I assure that if the measures taken by me are in accordance with the provisions
of HSC or does it requires some modifications. For this purpose the self evaluation techniques
and analysis of my recommendations with the prescribed structure help me to determine the

effectiveness and quality of my social care and health practices. The reflective approach on my
practices also allows me to evaluate my skills and drawbacks (Redmond, 2017). Through this
analysis I can make attempts to improve my clinical skills and abilities.
4.2 b. Use of reflection in practices
As a HSC professional it is vital as well as good for me to use reflection in my clinical
practices. The use of my learnings can help me to overcome the barriers in making clinical
decisions. The interaction with every individual gave me a unique experience and learning.
From the learnings which I gain throughout my journey as healthcare professional includes a
wide source of practical skills and knowledge. These learnings are essential to overcome the gap
between theoretical knowledge and practical implementation of knowledge in clinical practices
(Bridges and Fuller, 2015). The reflective learnings always make it possible for me to
accomplish practices from evidence based approach instead of applying only theoretical
knowledge.
4.3 Culture supporting reflective practices
It is essential for HSC to create a health care system which motivates the reflective
practices. I regularly analyse my strength as well as weaknesses so that I can evaluate my
learnings. The best way to analyse my drawbacks is to discuss with the people (Stickley and
et.al., 2017). The service users can provide suitable recommendations for improving the quality
of services provided by me. Through these feedbacks I will be able to learn that in which aspects
I need improvement. When I was working with a team of palliative care then I received feedback
from them that I am not quick at making decision. It affects my overall quality of performance.
By my learnings from the feedback I analysed that which factors affect my decision making
ability and how I can improve it.
4.4 Encouraging others to develop reflective practices
I can encourage and motivate my other team members to gain knowledge from their
experiences. I usually discuss with them regarding the incidences which helped to make better
health actions in critical situation. After knowing my experiences they also share their
experiences with me that how their practice approaches have changed and what difficulties they
faced in specific cases. In the discussion I always mention them that what values they can learn
from their experience. There are occasions when out discussions and reflective learnings are

practically implemented. It gave them a great experience when their own reflective learning is
implemented in their practices (Gould and Taylor, 2017).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that integrating different theories of health social
development in professional practices the quality of services can be improved to a great extent.
These theories help HSC professionals to develop a thorough understanding of requirements and
clinical conditions of people. The better understanding leads to the better interventions from
healthcare professionals. It has been also analysed that health care service providers can improve
their efficiency with the help of reflective and evidence based practices. From the study it is also
concluded that the professional frameworks must be followed in healthcare services so that users
can get the quality health services.

REFERENCES
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