2nd Edition

Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners

By Zoë Rawles Copyright 2019
    254 Pages 63 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    254 Pages 63 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This fully updated and revised edition of Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners is a practical and comprehensive text designed to equip you with the necessary clinical skills for your profession. This book:

     

    • equips you with the knowledge to provide the safest and most effective patient care possible;

    • provides evidence-based guidelines to ensure best practice that is matched to the National Occupational Standards and the Care Certificate;

    • includes new chapters on administering injections, ear irrigation and examining the feet of people with diabetes, and an entirely rewritten chapter on protocols;

    • addresses the evolving role of the healthcare assistant and training opportunities;

    • supplies comprehensive coverage of both primary and secondary care settings, with an emphasis on primary care;

    • covers accountability, communication skills, confidentiality and reflection; and

    • uses a light-hearted and accessible style, with definitions, case studies and activities to aid understanding.

     

    This is an indispensable guide for all those training as healthcare assistants and assistant practitioners, and an introductory textbook for students embarking on nursing and health and social care programmes.

    Foreword  Introduction  Section I: All Change 1. The Evolving Role of the Healthcare Assistant Section II: Some Useful Stuff 2. Understanding Reflective Practice 3. Accountability and Delegation 4. Using Protocols 5. Communicating with Patients 6. Simple Assertiveness Skills 7. Confidentiality, Consent and Record-keeping 8. Health Promotion: The Key Messages 9. Keeping It Clean: Hand Decontamination 10. Chaperoning Section III: Core Skills 11. Physiological Measurements 12. Understanding and Measuring Blood Pressure Accurately 13. Understanding the Heart: How to Perform the Electrocardiograph (ECG) 14. Venepuncture and Capillary Blood Testing: Best Practice 15. Kidney Function and Urine: Performing Accurate Urinalysis Section IV: More Advanced Skills 16. Examining the Feet of People With Diabetes 17. The Skin and the Healing Process: Basic Wound Care 18. Understanding Lung Function and Disease: Performing Accurate Lung Function Testing 19. The Role of the HCA in Administering Immunisations and the B12 Injection 20. Ear Examination and Irrigation Glossary  References  Index

    Biography

    Zoë Rawles is a healthcare trainer for HealthTrain in Wales, UK.