Essay: Safe and Effective Practice in Health and Social Care Settings

This essay provides an overview of safe and effective practices in health and social care, emphasizing holistic care, patient dignity, and the importance of interpersonal communication skills. It discusses how holistic care considers the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of patients, while dignity-centered care focuses on maintaining mutual respect between patients and healthcare providers. The essay highlights the significance of patient safety practices, including proper infrastructure and adequate training for healthcare workers, and underscores the crucial role of effective communication in improving patient outcomes and fostering trust. Furthermore, it examines professional values such as ethical practice, holistic care, and collaboration, which are essential for ensuring safe, effective, and patient-centered care in health and social care settings. The interpersonal communication theory developed by Peplau categorizes the interpersonal theory into four phases: the orientation phase, the identification phase, the exploitation stage and the resolution phase.

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Safe and Effective Practice in health and social care
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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).

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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

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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

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contexts of relationships, families, organizations, nature, and nations. Care assistance as a
health science requires a well-structured communication system to help achieve human
needs. More specifically, care provider requires both scientific knowledge and interpersonal
communication. Social scientific research indicates that apart from scientific and
interpersonal skills, care provider also needs intellectual, technical abilities, and skills
because of its complex nature.
To improve customer satisfaction, effective interpersonal communication skills are necessary
within and outside health care spectra (Wright, 2016). It also helps in achieving overall health
outcome. It is important to note that many patients will always make expression about a curse
depending on how the care provider communicates. The way care providers relate to patients
is important and the resultant expression by the patients about the nurses will influence the
health outcome of the patient. Clear communication positively impacts the response of the
patient to the health care provided by the nurses (O’Connor, 2016). Therefore, it is important
that the care provider ensures effective clarification of the type of illness and every step that
is undertaken concerning the illness. This way, the client will be able to know the facts and
respond to the care provided effectively by following the treatment faithfully.
It is required that individuals be aware of one's level of communication skills, characteristics,
attitudes, cultural backgrounds among others because they are important skills at work. In the
health care field, effective communication strengthens the provider-patient relationship.
Other scholars describe the knowledge of effective communication as one that helps care
givers develops a patient-centered approach in discharging their roles as care givers
(Sengupta and Sinha, 2017). The patient-centered approach can only be achieved with the
application of effective communication. Development of interpersonal skills will be
fundamental in ensuring the plight of patients is put in the front line. The importance of

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effective communication and interpersonal skills is emphasized in health care and clinical
training and this further proves the role it plays in health care systems.
In summary, effective communication is one of the key factors for the improvement of
interpersonal relationships and consequently, it improves the care to patients and quality of
services offered to patients (Freytag and Rauscher, 2017). Furthermore, effective
communication needs an understanding of the patients and their feelings. In this connection,
effective communication, therefore, requires skills which are supposed to be possessed by the
nurse to help them understand the patient's concerns (Williams, 2015). Other researchers
argue that understanding the patient is insufficient, but the nurses need to pass the message or
information effectively, accurately, and understandable to the patient so that the patient can
also understand the nurse (Reeves, 2015). Ultimately, it is important for the nurses to now
that both verbal and non-verbal communication pass a message.
The interpersonal communication theory developed by Peplau categorizes the interpersonal
theory into four phases. Firstly, the orientation phase where the nurse engages the patient
during treatment and the patient is allowed to ask questions and receive answers and
explanations from the nurse (Thomas and Hargett, 2016). This stage helps in the development
of trust by the patient in his or her first impression with the nurse. The second phase is the
identification phase where the nurse and the patient begin to work together. These are
interactions give the basis of understanding of one another. Trust and patience begin to take
center stage and the patient is now an active participant in the treatment process (Ernst,
2016). The third phase is the exploitation stage where the patient is fully into the patient-
nurse relationship and they all address the goals of treatment. The last stage is the resolution
phase in which because of effective communication, the needs of the patient have been met

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and he or she is independent. In this last stage, the patient does not need assistance and their
relationship ends there.
Professional values and their relevance to safe and effective and effective practice in
health and social care
Care givers in all fields of health care are required to confidently demonstrate competencies
when performing their daily routines. The most important core competencies include
professional values, communication, and interpersonal skills, care practice and decision
making in management. Professional values are core competencies that enable a care
provider to be proactive in attending to the patient and to protect the public (Duckett, 2014).
The nurses must practice in accordance with the regulations, autonomously and be
responsible for safe and patient-centered approach that is aimed at maintaining and protecting
human dignity. Professional values require the nurses to work in partnership with
professional bodies being guided by the ethical frameworks.
The professional values competencies that nurse are required to adhere to include;
 They are required to have confidence while practicing according to the code of
practice. In this context, they should be able to recognize and address the challenges
of ethics arising from the decisions of the people.
 Ensure that they practice holistically and in a non-judgemental manner to ensure that
they avoid assumptions (O’Connor, 2016). Holistic practice should be able to support
social inclusion and in recognition of individual opinion. Care providers should be
able to discern inequality and social exclusion; promote inclusivity in all aspects of
health and social care.

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 All care providers in residential homes are required to promote the well-being, human
rights, and dignity of people. This professional value focuses on people with
disability, inability, and age. Nurses must work to understand that these people are
part of public health concerns.
 Care givers are also needed to work collaboratively with health providers,
communities, and organizations to ensure that the goals of public health are achieved.
 Professional values competencies require nurses and care providers to fully
understand their roles and responsibilities and ensure that they meet the dynamic
needs of people and communities.
 They should work independently while recognizing and knowing their limits of
operation and competency. They are required to reflect on their limits and always
refer to other professionals for advice if necessary.
 Appreciate the evidence in practicing and constantly do research for new
developments in health care. This may also involve applying relevant theories when
carrying out their work and ensure that they also identify areas for further
investigations (Choi and Zucker, 2013).
The health care system is perceived to be 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 (Tilahun, 2018). 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

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with necessary amenities. The rooms must be well-ventilated for health purposes. A safe
environment is fundamental for effective social care delivery.
Conclusion
The nurses must practice in accordance with the regulations, autonomously and be
responsible for safe and patient-centered nursing that is aimed at maintaining and protecting
human dignity. Professional values require the nurses to work in partnership with
professional bodies being guided by the ethical frameworks. It is important to note that
patient-centered is one way of achieving a holistic approach where health care providers
simply focus on the achievement of positive results and goals of holistic dignity. However, it
has been reported that effective communication plays an important role in achieving the
benefits of holistic care. Certain factors must be put in place to ensure health care providers
develop clear approaches and strategies that will enable their patients to understand the
process and engage fully on every step being undertaken. This will yield results fast track
their recovery process and make them feel included in the whole process of recovery,
treatment, and care.

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