Evidence and Values in Person Centered Care

Questions: 1.Using practice examples explain what is professionalism? 2. What is teamwork and why is this important? 3. Demonstrate your understanding of compassionate care? 4. Explain giving practice examples what is non - verbal communication? 5. Why is it important to maintain the dignity of the patient and how is this achieved? 6. Why is it important to check that a patient has understood information/instruction given to them? 7. What does safeguarding the public mean to you? 8. What is evidence-based practice? 9. Why is record keeping important? 10. Why is it important to undertake professional development? Answers: 1. It has been difficult for the academicians to define and track professionalism as its definition is highly contextual. What does one understand by professionalism may vary with the organization, external environment as well as personal beliefs. There are various sources of professionalism which shape the definition of professionalism (Carlson Lewis, 2015). These can be personal experiences around time keeping, observing other professionals in another work context, experience of meeting and being part of a team, role models in placements or tutors in classroom, models encountered in media, personal experience at work, experience of interaction with clients, documentation such as student handbook and policies such as manual handling policies, peers, etc. Hence, there is no single definition of professionalism rather it can be seen differently in different contexts. When one sees in a holistic manner, professionalism is in the way from the time one starts for work and till the time that work is over. While professionalism can be understood by the skill and knowledge, one has of his or her work. Professionalism can also be seen as an expression of self. So it is the way a professional behaves with his clients. Professionalism is also seen in the attitude and behavior of the professional. A doctor can be good at his work but if he is not disciplined, can we call him or her a professional? In this way, one sees that there are ways to define professionalism in a holistic manner as well as some specific skill. This area can be explored more for better understanding, and training. 2. Teamwork is one of the most important factors needed for an organization success. Take the example of hockey, basketball, football, volleyball, every player has some unique quality, and everyone completes the team together and wins the match. Same applies for teamwork in the organization. When employers recruit the employees, they dont look only for the work-related knowledge and skill but for the ability to work in the team too. In a team, everyone works and achieves more than the sum of everyones contribution. A lot of researches show that there are various qualities that team members must possess for making a good team. These qualities are common purpose and clear goals, a common approach to work, they trust and support each other, everyone has the willingness to take responsibility of the team actions, they have necessary skills and resources, they are willing to share information with each other and they have ability to work through conflict (Valentine, Nembhard, and Edmondso n, 2015). When all these qualities are there, employees work cooperatively, everyone contribute their ideas, suggestions and efforts in the group, they develop a sense of responsibility. Although they will face a difficult time in reaching to consensus but it will lead to a good discussion and compel everyone to think from all sides. There has been a lot of research work in this area, and there are various ways to develop the team spirit in the employees. 3. There has been so many incidences of insensitivity of service providers towards patients or clients worldwide that care has again become a burning topic of discussion. Care provided by a person and a society or organization is different in many ways. It is mainly the person-centric care that faces more ethical and moral dilemmas about care as compared to society care (Winch, Henderson Jones, 2015). In personal care, people are more intimate and hence become more sensitive. The compassionate care is linked with the exhaustive care for patients. The objective of compassionate care is to provide 360-degree health care services to patients. One of the important components of compassionate care is community care. It is important that involvement of community members should be high for effective levels of compassionate care. Another important component of compassionate care includes empathy for patients. It is important that patients should be respected and patients should be given due care and attention. With the daily routine of service providers, every action just becomes mechanical and systematic and compassion starts getting reduced in the employees behavior. There is need to encourage colleagues so that they observe each other and appreciate positive behaviors of each other and point out the negative behaviors in a supportive way. Teams should also consider other factors that can get in the way of compassionate care like stress of workload etc. 4. Communication is the exchange of messages between two people. Non-verbal communication is when exchange of messages takes place without words or without speaking. It includes apparent behaviors such as eyes, tone of voice, posture, facial expressions, touching, dress and spatial distance between people. Non-verbal messages are very useful at workplace. Non-verbal messages allow people to modify the message. For example, saying yes might mean yes but saying yes with a shrug of shoulders and a sad expression will easily communicate that one is reluctant in saying yes. Non-verbal communication sometimes proves much better and convenient as compared to verbal communication. When one has to convey their emotions, their body language and facial expressions convey their emotions much more efficiently than their words. Non-verbal communication between people reinforces the relationship between them. People communicate their reaction and feedback by simple body parts movements. It also hel ps in regulating the flow of communication, for example by signaling to others that they have finished speaking or wish to say something. Unfortunately, understanding non-verbal messages is not that simple. People might get misunderstood while communicating. It needs a lot of trust among people for the non-verbal communication (Little, White, Kelly, Everitt Mercer, 2015). The non-verbal communication is an important means of communication in a group setting. For example a nod of head in a meeting and a nod of head when two people are talking can mean different. The gestures are also an important part of non-verbal communication. The leaders and managers should focus to learn the communication from gestures so that they can make meaningful inferences from the non-verbal communication of patients and employees. 5. There are so many definitions of dignity in literature. One of that definition is patients feel their dignity is restored when they have physical and psychosocial wherewithal to behave and respond properly where their capabilities are actually threatened. Many times it is seen that clients feel dignified when they are manage to function as independently as possible and also have a genuine role to play in the decision making related to their health or care. This is very easy to do. Nurses and doctors just need to ask older patients about their preferences and likes, dislikes, etc. However, this asking also need some creative strategies to ask so that they can feel empowered and dignified. There is need of circumstances also to highlight the dignity. Such circumstances can be classified as external factors influencing dignity (Jacelon, 2015). What health professionals can do is either they can expand the patients capabilities or they can make the circumstances favorable to their dig nity. When circumstances and capabilities will match, it will eventually lead to improvement in the dignity they feel. Patients want themselves to be understood as an able adult and not to be treated as a child. It would be correct to say that patients are an important part of the health care ecosystem. The interaction of patients with other players in the health care system is also important to maintain the dignity of patients. 6. It is very important to check whether the patient has clearly understood the information and instructions provided my doctor. As it can prove very dangerous in case-patient did not understand it properly. It can also be dangerous for the doctor as it can result in various legal issues. It is very important for the patients to understand the instructions as this will enable them to get the maximum output of the doctors advice. They also experience higher quality of medical care. Those patients who understand the instructions properly are more probable to adhere to medical instructions and hence improvement in treatment outcomes occur (Lim, Jarvenpaa, Lanham, 2015). It has been various times that communications gaps in the field pf healthcare often get unnoticed and this can have serious effects on the patients. One of the reasons for this is the poor literacy of patients. Communication quality is really important, as if patient did not take the doctor seriously, he or she will not be able to take the preventive measures. It is important to mention that patient should be informed about all the treatments being done on him. This is known as informed consent. The informed consent can be taken from patient only when he has understood all the information and instruction given to him. Moreover, it is the moral right of patient to understand the treatment that is being given to him. Therefore, it is the moral responsibility of doctors and nurses to explain everything to patients. 7. In recent times, a new concept of safeguarding has evolved. Safeguarding has different meaning for different people. Safeguarding children include so many things. It means to protect children from maltreatment or anything that is bad for the health or development of kids. It also includes that children should grow up in circumstances that will provide them safe and effective care. When one talks about safeguarding adults, it includes a whole set of different needs (Mercurio, 2015). Safeguarding for adults tells about the need of the right that people can live safely and they are also free from abuse and neglect. It also means that people and organizations should work together to prevent the risk of abuse and neglect and to stop such incidences from happening. The system also needs to ensure that wellbeing of people gets promoted; their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs are taken into consideration. 8. Evidence-based practice is a contemporary health care practice that focuses to use the best available research work. This field was first introduced in health care field in the year 1992. Since then, this practice has evolved a lot. The use of evidence-based practice is evident in large hospitals and mid-size clinics. When a doctor or nurse talks with a patient, he or she comes to know about the patients preferences, expectations, concerns and values. Evidence only is not sufficient to make the decision. Evidence supports the patient care process. The integration of these three features improves the probability of optimal clinical outcomes and also the quality of life of patients (Royse, Thyer Padgett, 2015). Evidence based practices are initiated with the patient encounters. Such encounters lead to generation of questions about the utility of diagnostic tests, the effects of therapy, the etiology of disorders and the prognosis of diseases. Although there is need of new skills of clinicians including the application of formal rules of evidence and efficient literature searching in evaluation the clinical literature. Steps involved in EBP process are assess the patient, ask questions, acquire the evidences, appraise the evidences and talk with the patient and self-evaluation. 9. Recently it has been noticed that nurses can be scrutinized for their record keeping. Various legislations such as the data protection act and human rights act has increased the profile of and access to health records. It has been done in the situation when patients complains about their care are increasing day by day. It does not matter much whether these complaints are sorted out in court or settled by healthcare providers, having comprehensive records are very much essential. All these things make it highly important that nurses fulfill all the legal requirements and follow best practices in record keeping. Professionalisms code of conduct always suggests that good note taking is very crucial for nurses. As everyone is aware of that these notes become the way of communication between doctors, nurses and between a doctor and a nurse. The code of conduct also states that nurses and other health professionals must ensure that health care records for the clients and patients are ac curate, they are according to account of treatment, and proper care planning and delivery should also be ensured (Chamanga Ward, 2015). There are various other things too that should be taken care of. All these records should be made in the presence of patients and with their active participation. Also, an event should be recoded as soon as it occurred. Also, records should clearly mention all the plans, all the decisions made and the treatment delivered and all the information and instructions shared. 10. Many times people talk about continuing professional development. Continuing professional development is a very significant process to develop and nurture the professionalism in the employees or service providers. It is a process through which standards of healthcare practice are maintained and improved. This improvement is maintained through development of knowledge, attitudes, skills and behavior in individual healthcare professionals. Many types of educational experiences are also referred by professional development. Doctors, educators, engineers, lawyers, accountants and people in a wide variety of professions and businesses become a part in professional development to learn and apply this new skill and knowledge that will help in improving their performance at job (Harris, Graham Adkins, 2015). Researches in education sector has shown that school leadership and teaching quality are the most significant factors which help in such raising of student that will help him or her achieve success. Everybody needs to continuously increase their knowledge and skills to maintain their effectiveness and success. Be it teachers, school and district leaders, all need to continuously improve themselves for their continuous effectiveness. Educators learn to help students learn at the highest levels. Generally, when people use the term professional development, they generally mean formal and traditional processes such as seminar, conferences and workshops; collaborative learning among people of team; or a well-structured course at some college or university. It can be said that the area of professional development does not only help to develop professionally, but it also helps individuals to develop at personal level. References Carlson, M., Lewis, S. C. (Eds.). (2015).Boundaries of Journalism: Professionalism, Practices and Participation. Routledge. Chamanga, E., Ward, R. (2015). Documentation and record-keeping in pressure ulcer management.Nursing Standard,29(36), 56-63. Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Adkins, M. (2015). Practice-based professional development and Self-Regulated Strategy Development for Tier 2, at-risk writers in second grade.Contemporary Educational Psychology,40, 5-16. Jacelon, C. S. (2015, July). 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