QQI Level 5 Work Experience: Reflective Diary and Report Analysis

This document is a comprehensive work experience report from a student in the healthcare field. It comprises a reflective diary with five journal entries detailing real-life experiences, challenges, and learning outcomes within a healthcare setting. The entries cover various aspects of patient care, including communication challenges with non-English speaking patients, the importance of cultural competency in treatment, the significance of effective management practices within a residential care home, and the critical role of patient safety protocols. The report also includes a skills audit, an overview of relevant legislation, reflections on the student's role during the work placement, and an evaluation of the work experience with future plans. The student reflects on incidents, highlighting their learning, and outlining strategies for professional improvement. The assignment demonstrates the practical application of theoretical knowledge and the development of essential skills for healthcare professionals, offering valuable insights into the realities of the healthcare environment.

Running head: WORK EXPERIENCE
WORK EXPERIENCE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1WORK EXPERIENCE
Table of Contents
PART ONE: REFLECTIVE DIARY..............................................................................................2
JOURNAL 1................................................................................................................................2
JOURNAL 2................................................................................................................................4
JOURNAL 3................................................................................................................................6
JOURNAL 4................................................................................................................................8
JOURNAL 5..............................................................................................................................10
PART TWO: REFLECTIVE REPORT.........................................................................................12
PORTFOLIO.................................................................................................................................15
Skills Audit................................................................................................................................15
Legislation.................................................................................................................................20
Participation on work experience..............................................................................................23
Your own role while on work placement..................................................................................26
Evaluation of work experience and future plans.......................................................................28
References......................................................................................................................................31

2WORK EXPERIENCE
PART ONE: REFLECTIVE DIARY
JOURNAL 1
Entry No. 1
Date:
I would like to firstly highlight the fact that I work as a healthcare assistant in one of the
residential care homes of Ireland and on an everyday basis I am required to take care of a large
number of elderly patients and also look after their medications. I am normally required to offer
care to the English speaking elderly people and I am well suited for doing that. However, on the
date mentioned above one of my colleagues had to take a leave due to some unavoidable
circumstances and I was asked to take care of her patients one of whom was from Spain and not
well versed in the English Language. Furthermore, I myself was not fluent in the Spanish
language and thus I was not being able to understand the things that she was trying to say or for
that matter the things that she wanted me to do. Needless to say, I was completely at sea and
apart from the prescribed medication I was not being able to cater to any of her needs which in
made the patient very irate. Luckily, one of our health care assistants speaks fluent Spanish and
thus I took his help to cater to the needs of the patients and fulfill her treatment needs.
The most important thing that I learned from this incident was the importance of the
process of communication within the work which is being performed by me. The issues that I
faced with the patient arose since we were not being able to effectively undertake the process of
verbal communication because both of us did not speak the same language. More importantly,
the communication challenge that I faced with the patient not only adversely affected the quality

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of care which was offered by me to her but at the same realize the importance of non-verbal and
gestural communication processes within the field of my work. Thus, I should have taken the
help of the process of non-verbal communication or for that matter taken the help of different
kinds of gestures for effectively communicating with the patients. This in turn would have
substantially helped me to overcome the issues that I faced and therefore I would say that this is
the most important thing that I learned from the concerned incident.
The incident clearly indicates that I need to develop the skill of non-verbal or gestural
communication and I am positive that undertaking different kinds of workshops, skill
development programs and others would help me to effectively acquire this particular skill.
Furthermore, I am optimistic that the acquisition of this particular skill would not only enable me
to effectively communicate with the patients or understand their needs but would also help me to
offer the best quality healthcare treatment services to them. Thus, I would say that the incident
that I mentioned in this journal is likely to positively affect me at the professional level by
facilitating my acquisition of the non-verbal and gestural communication skills.

4WORK EXPERIENCE
JOURNAL 2
Entry No. 2
Date:
The incident that I would like to discuss in this journal actually helped me to understand
the importance of the concept of cultural competency and the different benefits that the
healthcare professionals can derive through the effective usage of the same. A few days ago we
received a patient who is from the indigenous background and he was suffering from food
poisoning. Furthermore, after diagnosing him our healthcare professionals tried to administer
him the required medication through injections but he refused vehemently to take any injections
and also objected to intake the medications. Some of the healthcare assistants tried to calm him
down and urged him to take the medication yet there was no change in his mindset. Finally, I
approached the patient and tried to understand why he didn’t want to have the medications,
which is actually going to relieve his pain and also cure him. He replied the usage of injections
was not allowed in his culture and thus he was refusing to take the same. I assured the patient
that we will not force him to take the injections and after consulting the doctor we will certainly
find a middle ground. The doctor who had checked on the patient after listening to what I have to
say agreed to replace the injections with capsules and tablets of the same medicine which the
patient readily agreed to intake.
The major challenge that we faced in this incident can be ascribed to the aspect of
cultural differences between the culture that we followed and the cultural background from
which the patient hailed from. Thus, it can be said that the most important learning experience
that I derived from the concerned incident is the knowledge about the concept of cultural

5WORK EXPERIENCE
intelligence or cultural competency and also the benefits that the healthcare professionals can
derive through the effective usage of the same. For example, had I been able to this concept then
the treatment services would have been offered to the patient in a much better manner and that
too without any confusion which adversely affected the quality of care which was offered by us
to the patient. Therefore, I have decided to take the help of different kinds of workshops and
other kinds of programs for the effective development of my cultural competency or cultural
intelligence. I am hoping that this would facilitate my understanding of the treatment needs or
that matter the treatment requirements of the patients in the best possible manner and thereby
help them to offer the required amount of care or treatment services to them. This in turn is likely
to facilitate the process of my own professional development as well. Thus, I would say that
rather than being a negative one the incident under discussion here was a positive one and helped
me to understand the significance of the skill of cultural competency and also the need of the
healthcare professionals to use the same for offering treatment to the patients.

6WORK EXPERIENCE
JOURNAL 3
Entry No. 3
Date:
The incident that I would discuss in this journal is related to the issue of effective
management practices and also the benefits that the residential care homes can derive through the
adequate usage of the same within the clinical setting. We have around 15 registered nurses, 5
doctors, 15 healthcare assistants in our residential care home and it is the duty of the nurse leader
to prepare the roaster of all these healthcare professionals. However, on the given day it
happened that the majority of the healthcare workers of our care home took their week-offs on
the same day and thus it became very difficult for the remaining healthcare workers to
effectively manage the patient flow. Furthermore, around 8 healthcare workers who were present
in the given day had to complete the job role of the entire care home while offering the required
care or treatment services to the patients who belonged to the doctors and the registered nurses
who were absent on the concerned day. Thus, the doctors have to firstly go through all the
reports of the patients and after that administer the required treatment which consumed a
substantial amount of time since they were not aware of the medical history of the patients. This
in turn adversely affected the quality of healthcare services or for that matter the care that was
offered to the patients in the care home on that particular day.
The most important challenge that I face in the incident under discussion here can be
attributed to the fact that in the absence of the required number of healthcare workers due to
ineffective planning of roasters I was required to handle a substantial amount of workload while
ensuring to offer the best quality treatment services to the patients. Thus, I would say that the

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most important lesson that I learned from the concerned incident can be ascribed to the
importance of effective management practices within the healthcare setting and also the need on
the part of the nurse leaders to effectively plan the roaster of the healthcare workers. This in turn
is likely to facilitate the adequate completion of the work of the healthcare organizations and also
ensure the fact that the desired quality of healthcare treatment services or care is being offered to
the patients as well.
In the light of the incident under discussion here I have realized the fact that in order to
attain adequate professional development I need to improve my management skills which in turn
would help me to effectively manage the different affairs of the healthcare organizations. I am
hoping to attain effective management skills by way of attending different vocational courses,
training programs, workshops and others so as to acquire the kind of skills that would enable me
to effectively plan the roasters of the various healthcare workers, the work that we are required to
perform and others within the healthcare organizations. Thus, I would say that the concerned
incident was an important one for me since it taught me the importance of effective management
practices within the healthcare setting.

8WORK EXPERIENCE
JOURNAL 4
Entry No. 4
Date:
The incident that I would discuss in this journal taught me the importance of the concept
of patient safety and also the ardent need on the part of the healthcare professionals to take the
help of adequate safety measures to safeguard the safety as well as the wellbeing of the patients.
In the incident under discussion here, I forgot to change my safety gloves after administering a
patient who was suffering from diarrhea and immediately went on to administer a patient who
was suffering from viral fever. I would say that because of the high workload that are required to
handle within the care home it completely slipped out of my mind that I needed to change my
gloves after treating each of the patients so as to ensure the safety of the patients and also to
ensure the fact that they do not have to suffer from any unnecessary infections. Furthermore, a
colleague of mine was quick to realize my mistake and thus adequate antibiotics and other
medicines were injected to the patient suffering from viral fever to ensure the fact that he would
not have suffer because of my negligence.
The most important learning experience that I gained from the incident under discussion
here can be ascribed to the fact that regardless of the workload that we are required to handle we
would never ignore the concept of patient safety. This can be explained on the basis of the fact
that disregarding this concept would jeopardize the health condition of the patients rather than
improving the same and in some of the serious cases the results can even be catastrophic.
However, at the same time I would like to say that the high workload that the healthcare
professionals are required to take care of within the healthcare setting often makes it very

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difficult for them to take into account the concept of patient safety and this as a matter of fact is
one of the major challenges that the majority of the healthcare professionals including me face.
Having said this, the importance of the concept of patient safety cannot be denied and thus it is
important for the healthcare workers to ardently follow the same.
In future, to avoid to mistake that I committed I have decided to be more mindful and
also devote more attention to the work that I am performing. More importantly, I have also
decided to undertake a personal research regarding the concept of patient safety and the different
ways in which it can be followed effectively. I am hoping that this would help me to improve the
quality of the healthcare treatment services which are being offered by me to the patients and
thereby help me to attain the desired level of professional development as well. Thus, it can be
said that the incident under discussion here was an educational one for me and thereby likely to
facilitate my professional growth as a healthcare assistant as well.

10WORK EXPERIENCE
JOURNAL 5
Entry No. 5
Date:
This journal would focus on an incident which taught me the importance of effective time
management and also the benefits that the healthcare workers can derive through the effective
usage of the same within the healthcare setting. A few backs I had to take an early leave and thus
I needed to attend to all the patients who were my responsibility within a certain specific amount
of time. However, since I had not effectively developed my time management skill or ability
effectively till now so I found it really very difficult to attend to all the patients within the
stipulated time. Thus, I had to take the help of my colleagues for the completion of the different
tasks or job roles that were allocated because of my inadequate time management skills.
The most important thing that I learned from the incident under discussion here can be
attributed to the fact that I was able to learn about the importance of the concept of time
management within the particular context of the healthcare setting. For instance, had I possessed
adequate time management skills then I would have been able to attend the different patients
adequately and thereby offer them the required healthcare treatment services. However, since I
didn’t posses this particular skill I had to take the help of my colleagues for the adequate
completion of the job roles which I was required to complete within the care center.
More importantly, the major challenge that I faced in the incident under discussion here
can be attributed to the fact that my lack of time management skills or abilities hindered the
effective completion of the different patients that I was required to take care of. More
importantly, it had been seen that the healthcare workers are often required to work under

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stressful conditions and also handle large volumes of work. Thus, it can be said that the
acquisition of this particular skill set becomes important from the perspective of my professional
development since it will not only enable me to effectively complete the different job roles that
would be delegated to me but would also help me to offer the best quality healthcare treatment
services to the patients as well. Furthermore, I am hoping to acquire the required time
management skills by way of attending different workshops, skill development programs,
vocational courses and others. These are likely to help me to acquire the skill under discussion
here and thereby facilitate the process of my professional development. Thus, it can be said that
the incident under discussion here was an important one from my perspective since while making
me understand the importance of the time management skill, it also made me understand the
professional growth that I can attain through the acquisition of this particular skill.