Essential knowledge and skills for healthcare assistants
By: Zoë Rawles
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Boca Raton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 167
ISBN-13: 9781444169232
Subjects: Nurses' Aides; Standards; Nurse's Role; Primary Health Care; Methods
Description: "Foreword Essential Knowledge and Skills for Health-Care Assistants (HCAs) is a most welcome addition to the small number of textbooks available for HCAs. It covers vital aspects that all HCAs need to know, including accountability, communication, and confidentiality to name a few. The book also explains many practical activities that are relevant to most HCAs, in particular those working in the primary-care setting. Urinalysis, lung function testing, and promoting health are included amongst many other key interventions. The practical skills sections are supplemented by essential underpinning knowledge, which will help to broaden the reader's understanding of not only how, but why certain tests and activities are performed. The importance of patient-centred care is reinforced throughout, as is the necessity for robust protocols covering all roles that HCAs perform. Each section is concise and relevant for HCAs at every stage of their development. This will be a key reference text to support programmes of education and should be on every GP practice's bookshelf. A nurse practitioner of many years' experience, Zoe Rawles has been involved in the education and training of HCAs since 2003. She has also lectured on the nurse practitioner masters course at the University of Wales Swansea and coauthored a book on physical examination procedures for advanced nurses and independent prescribers in 2010 Zoe has a talent for explaining complex issues in a clear and uncomplicated way, and draws on her wide experience to illustrate the text with plenty of examples to bring the concepts to life. The book is easily readable yet packed with useful information. Any HCA who reads this book will gain a real understanding of their role and what should be expected of them in practice"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The evolving role of the health-care assistant (HCA); title: Understanding reflective practice; title: Understanding accountability and delegation; title: A bit about protocols; title: Communicating with patients; title: Simple assertiveness skills; title: Confidentiality, consent, & record keeping; title: Health promotion : the key messages; title: Keeping it clean hand decontamination; title: Physiological measurements; title: Understanding blood pressure and performing accurate measurements; title: Understanding the heart and performing the electrocardiograph (ECG); title: Venepuncture best practice; title: Understanding lung function and disease : performing accurate lung function testing; title: Kidney function and urine : performing accurate urinalysis; title: The skin and the healing process : basic wound care; title: Chaperoning; title: Training for the future.