Learning Outcomes Learning Outcomes

1. Understand what is required for good practice in adult social care roles.

2. Understand how learning activities can develop knowledge, skills and understanding.

3. Know how a personal development plan can contribute to own learning and development.

SS tandards that influence the way tandards that influence the way adult social care job roles are adult social care job roles are

carried out carried out

Standards may include- Code of practice Regulations Essential standards National Occupational standards

WW hy reflecting on work activities hy reflecting on work activities

is an important way is an important way to develop own knowledge and skills to develop own knowledge and skills

Reasons may include- to examine why and how you practice. to identify areas for improvement. to develop different ways of working. to develop new areas of learning.

WW ays to ensure ays to ensure that personal attitudes or beliefs that personal attitudes or beliefs

do not obstruct the quality of work do not obstruct the quality of work

Ways may include- being aware of own personal attitudes and

beliefs. understanding and being open to others’

attitudes and beliefs. respecting differences between own and

others’ personal attitudes and beliefs.

Why do we need to learn

Learning activities can improve own knowledge, skills and understanding and it can do so by- providing you with new ideas. giving you an opportunity for new areas of

learning. enabling you to apply theories to practice. giving you greater self-confidence.

Reflecting on a situation can improve own knowledge, skills and understanding and may include-

giving you greater personal insight. examining how effective your practice is. thinking through different approaches.

How feedback from others has

developed own knowledge, skills and

understanding

Why F eedback isimportant ?

The major and most straightforward reason why feedback is important is The major and most straightforward reason why feedback is important is

thatthat-- it is essential to ensure that any package of care is continuing to it is essential to ensure that any package of care is continuing to

meet the needs that it was designed to meet.meet the needs that it was designed to meet.

However there are other aspects of monitoring which are also important. However there are other aspects of monitoring which are also important.

A package of care will have originally been assessed, planned and put in A package of care will have originally been assessed, planned and put in

place to meet a particular set of circumstances. All these does not place to meet a particular set of circumstances. All these does not

gurantee that it will still be appropriate six moths or a year ahead.neither gurantee that it will still be appropriate six moths or a year ahead.neither

does it mean that care plan which were set even with the most thorough does it mean that care plan which were set even with the most thorough

assessment and careful planning will necessarily continue to provide assessment and careful planning will necessarily continue to provide

servicces of the quality or at the level originally expected.servicces of the quality or at the level originally expected.

Importance of Feedback

Monitoring may seem a complex process but its principles are

very simple and feedback is one of the key components.

According to the department of health over 1.6 million people

have services provided for them through care packages. About

1.3 million of these people use community services and rest

have residential services. Almost 600,000 packages of care

are reviewed every year and about half of these result in a new or

amended care plan. This shows that people’s circumstances and

needs change and therefore the services provided must be able

to respond to those changes in needs. Monitoring and feedback

is needed for this to be done.

Monitoring of care services needs to pick up changes in the circumstances of those receiving services, their carers and the service providers.

The original care plan will include forms of care and support that reflect the individual’s needs at the time.For example- someone recently discharged from hospital following treatment of mental health problems may receive quite extensive support under the care programme approach.

Feedback on that individual’s progress may show his or her mental health has improved to the point that day care is no longer needed on the previous level and that an alternative service such as support in finding employment is now far the most appropriate.

Importance of Feedback

Ways of Monitoring Whatever approach the organization takes to monitor, it will

be decided at the outset how a particular care package will be monitored and the methods will be agreed with the individual and his or her carers.

Your feedback will be an essential part of the process. A

monitoring process will involve the following key people-

> The individual receiving the service.

> His or her carers and family.

> Other health care preofessionals.

> The service providers_whose performance will be monitored.

Monitoring by theindividual

The most important person in any monitoring process is certainly the individual receiving the service. So he or she must be clear about how to record and feed back information on the way the care package is working.

This can be done by-

> Completing a checklist on a regular basis either weekly or monthly.

> Maintaining regular contact with the care manager / co-ordinator either by telephone

or through a visit.

> Using an electronic checking and monitoring form which would be e-mailed on a regular basis to the care manager / co-ordinator.

> Recording or reporting any changes in his or her own circumstances or changes in the provision of the care package.

Monitoring by theindividual

Have there been any changes in your health since the last report?

If so, please say what.

- Not really much thesame

Have there been any changes in your circumstances since the last report?

If so please say what.

My sister has come to live a few streets

away

Monitoring by theindividual

Are the services you receive giving the support you need?

, , Yes still very good ’ but don t need day

center on Thursday as my sister now

takes me out everyThursday

How would like the services to change what you receive?

Cancel Thursday at the day center but

everything else is. fine

Monitoring by theindividual

Monitoring by C arers andFamilies

Carers and families are likely to

participate in the monitoring of a care

package in similar ways.

It will need to make sure that carers are

willing to participate in monitoring and

they do not feel you are adding yet

another burden to their lives.

Monitoringby other health care professionals

Maintaining contact between reviews with other professionals who may be involved with the individual is an essential part of the monitoring process. The most effective method of doing this is to agree the types of changes which will trigger contact.

For example-

The GP may be asked to notify the care manager of any significant health changes or hospital admissions.

The community nurse may be asked to notify any problems in compliance with treatment or changes in the individual’s ability to administer his or her own medicaiton or changes in home conditions.

The physiotherapist may be asked to notify any significant changes in mobility.

Monitoringby other health care professionals

Feedback from C areProfessionals

Your role in administering the plan of care

means that you are in an ideal position to identify changes in an individual’s circumstances that

may mean a service is no longer appropriate. It may need to be increased, decreased or

changed in order to meet a new situation. The changes do not have to be major but they can have a significant impact on a person’s life.

Identifying significantchange

Throughout any monitoring, evaluation and feedback process, you are looking for changes and responding to those changes.

It is important that you are clear about the difference between types of changes which require action to be taken and those that are simply a part of everyday life and do not need to involve a major re-think of a care package.

Areas to notice changes

Changes in service users

circumstances

Changes in housing conditions

Changes in financial circumstances

Changes in nature of local neighbourhood

Changes in level of friends or family support

Changes in mental condition

Changes in local resource and facilities

Changes in physical condition

Changes in personnel in agencies involved in support

Good Practice Always ensure that you have

information about all of the individual’s circumstances using observation as well as direct questioning.

Make sure you have the individual’s agrrement to use any of the information you have acquired.

Ensure that all the relevant information you have about the individual and his or her circumstances is passed on to those who are involved in planning care provision.

Support the individual in making a direct contribution to the process of planning his or her own care programme and in expressing preferences.

Make arrangements of regularly feedback session on the provision of the service.

Contribute to regular arrangements fro reviewing the service and make sure that the individual is involved throughout the process.

Good Practice

Feedback from others can develop own knowledge, skills and understanding and may include- identifying areas for improvement. increasing your capacity for problem solving. helping you to understand others’ perspectives.

So ... Importance of feedback

Checklist to evaluatepractice

How did I approach my work Was my approach positive How did the way I worked affect the service users How did the way I worked affect my colleagues Did I give 100% to my work Which was the best aspect of the work I did Which was the worst aspect of the work I did Was this work the best I could do Are there any areas in which I could improve What are they and how will I tackle them

Know how a personal development

plan can contribute to

own learning and development

Personal Development Plan

A personal development plan may have a different name but will record information such as agreed objectives for development, proposed activities to meet objectives, timescales for review, etc.

W ho could be involved in the personal development plan process

Who could be involved may include- the individual carers advocates supervisor, line manager or employer other professionals -?

S ources of support for own learning and development

Sources of support may include- formal support informal support supervision appraisal within the organisation beyond the organisation

Learning from workpractice

Everything that you do at work is part of a process of learning. Even regular tasks are likely to be important for learning because there is always something new each time you do them.

A simple task like taking a service user a hot drink may result in a lesson if for example you find that the service user tells you- he or she does not want tea but would prefer coffee this morning.......

you will have learned a valuable lesson about never making assumptions that everything will be the same each day.

Learning from working is also about using the huge amount of skills and experience which your colleagues and supervisor will have.

Not only will this mean that they will be able to pass on knowledge and advice to you but.......

you have the perfect opportunity to discuss

ideas and talk about day to day practice in the service you are delivering.

Learning from workpractice

Finding time to discuss work with colleagues is never easy as everyone is busy but most colleagues and supervisors are happy to talk about good and bad practice and to give guidance and advice whenever they can. So you must develope the skill of timing.

Never choose the moment when your supervisor

has a desk overflowing with statistical returns and shift rotas nor the moment when one service user has just tipped a full commode over the bedroom floor.

Learning from workpractice

Using feedback and support

to improve practice It is important to regularly examine your own work

and consider the way in which it could have been improved and the strengths and weaknesses of your own practice.

It is very hard to do this without any support from others and without using feedback.

Support networks whether they are fromal and/or informal are one of the most effective means of identifying areas of your own practice which need further development.

Formal networks Formal networks Formal networks of support are usually put in place

by the employer. They are likely to consist of your immediate supervisor and possibly other more senior members of staffs on occasions.

You are likely to have a regular system of feedback and support meetings or appraisal sessions with your supervisor.

These could be at differing intervals depending on the system in your particular workplace but are unlikely to be less frequent than once a month.

Formal networks These systems are extremely useful in giving you the

opportunity to benefit from the feedback from your supervisor who will be fully aware of the work that you have been doing and able to identify areas of practice which may need to be improved and areas in which you have demonstrated strength.

The appraisal or supervision system in your workplace may also be the point at which you identify a programme of development which you need to undertake. Some employers identify this at six monthly or 12 monthly and some more frequently.

Your supervisor is likely to identify which of the available training and development programmes are appropriate fro the areas of your practice which have been identified as needing development.

Making the most out of a supervision

It is sometimes difficult to take a step back and look at whether your working practices have improved as a result of training and development programmes. So it is very important to seek out and act on feedback from an appropriate person, usually your supervisor.

Asking for feedback on your performance is not always easy and listening to this can be harder. All of us find it difficult to hear feedback at times especially if we are being told we could do things better.

So- you should learn to welcome feedback.

Try to think of it as looking at a mirror.

You probably never go out without looking at the mirror to check how do you look. So how will you know about your work performances if you do not ask anyone who is in a position to tell you?

Good practice

Make sure you are well prepared for supervision / appraisal session so that you can get maximum benefit from them.

You will need to demonstrate to your supervisor that you have reflected on your own practice and that you have begun to identify areas for development.

Be prepared for receiving feedback from your supervisor.

Remember, feedback is likely to be given in a positive way, this does not mean that it will be uncritical.

Good practice

You have to value feedback and reply to it.

An ideal reply would be ‘thank you that’s very helpful. I can use that next time to improve.’

Informal networks Informal support networks are likely to consist

of your work colleagues. These can be major sources of support and

assistance. Part of the effectiveness of many teams in

many workplaces is their ability to provide useful ideas for improving practice and support when things go badly.

Informal networks Some staff teams provide a completely informal

and adhoc support system where people will give you advice, guidance and support as and when necessary. Other teams will organize this on a more regular basis and they may get together to discuss specific situations or problems which may have arisen for members of the team.

You need to be sure that you are making maximum use of all opportunities to gain support, advice nad feedback on your practice.

Learning from mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes but they are one way of learning.

It is important not to waste your mistakes. That means if something has gone wrong , make sure you learn from it.

Discuss problems and mistakes with your supervisor and work out how to do things differently and effectively next time.

You will develop as a result of learning from situations which have not worked out the way you planned.

Using your mistakes It is also important that you consider carefully why

things turned out the way they did and think about how you will ensure that they go according to plan next time.

Unfortunately there are real people on the receiving end of our mistakes in care and learning how not to do it again is vitally important.

Talking to colleagues and supervision is equally useful when things work out really well. It is just as important to learn why something worked, so that you can repeat it.

How to use training and development

You should work with your supervisor to prepare for the training and to review it afterwards. You should prepare for a training session by-

> reading any materials which have been provided in advance.

> talking to your supervisor or a colleague who has attended similar training about what to expect.

> thinking about what you want to achieve as a result of attending the training.

B enefits of using a personal development plan

Benefits of using a personal development plan may include- focuses on what one wants to achieve and how to do it. develops greater self-awareness of training needs. increases own understanding of how to meet identified needs. provides evidence of actions taken to improve own knowledge and understanding.