Principles of Health And Social Care Practice

Question: Describe about the Principles of Health And Social Care Practice? Answer: Introduction Health and social care practice are very important for a society or community. Since various diseases affect people, they must stay aware of those diseases. Medication and treatment are provided to the service users by the social and health care centers. The principles of health and social care practice involve promotion of awareness regarding diseases and social issues, providing treatment and care to the users of service, maintenance of privacy by the opinion of the patient and minimization of the hazards and risks for the service users (Munn-Giddings and Winter 2013). The present report deals with the principles of health and social care practices and their implementation in a case study. First Section The main principle of health and social care practice is the principle of support. The support should be provided to maintain and assure the well-being and health. The care workers must respect the rights and personality of the patients. Patients can be of different cultures and belief (Aveyard and Sharp 2013). Therefore, they should be treated with proper dignity and respect their culture and belief. Their cultural diversity should be respected. The patients should have the independence of taking their decisions and customer rights should not be violated (Drummond et al. 2015). Since the care workers come close to the patient during their care schedule, many private matters are disclosed. So privacy should be maintained for the patients. The service users should be given the choice for self-care (Aveyard 2014). Ahmed and Sylvia had been staying together for a long time. They have developed the respect and trust among each other. Sylvia used to take good care of Ahmed based on the principle of support. She respected his privacy, his choice and dignity and used to act as an informal caregiver. Therefore, the principle of support was informally present between Ahmed and Sylvia before Angela came in as the caregiver for them. Since Ahmed and Sylvia decided not to move on to a care home ever before the dementia of Ahmed, Sylvia respected her choice and independence even when Angela decided to shift Ahmed to a care home to give a Sylvia a break from her role of caregiver. Sylvia, being an old woman herself required a break. Considering her hearing impairment, Angela took this decision. Second Section: The primary objective of health and social care practice is promoting and maintaining the patient's good health and keeping him comfortable and safe from harm. The first step towards the risk-free and safe environment for the patient is the identification of the harms and risks (Riekert, Ockene and Pbert 2013). Various types of harms can affect the patient like psychological, financial, physical and emotional harm. Therefore, the care workers must provide a safe, risk-free and effective environment to the patient for their health and well-being. Physical harm can be avoided by following the safety standards. Psychological harm can be prevented by providing supervision and mental support. Emotional harm can be prevented by providing love and care or friendly approach to the patients. Health and safety policies should be followed effectively for proper patient care (Norman and Ryrie 2013). Complex situations can be overcome by the application of certain devices and implementing the sys tem of flow buddy with the help of colleagues. Worse situations should be handled with kindness and positivity to avoid causing any harm to the patient (Brooker and Latham, 2015). Since Ahmed is suffering from Alzheimers disease, he has developed a violent nature. Since Sylvia is her informal caregiver and she is an old woman, she is prone to get physical or psychological harm. On the contrary, Ahmed might be emotionally harmed if his confidentiality and choice are not protected. Policies of sharing information should be well followed to protect the privacy of Ahmed. In addition, Sylvia should be consulted before taking any decision regarding Ahmed to recognize her dignity and choice of independence, since they decided never to move on to a care home. Third Section: The person-centered approach is fulfilling and supporting the wishes, needs and preferences of the patients. Fulfilling the needs and demands of the patients provides proper care to them (Kitson et al. 2013). This gives them a sense of individuality, which is very much essential for their well-being and health and their rights of individuals are protected. To satisfy them their personal preferences are met (Ottosdottir and Evans 2014). This makes the task of the care workers easy, as the patients tend to co-operate with them. Good communication between them increases the confidence of the patient. The clients psychological, physical, emotional and mental health is well taken care of in this process and protects them from the risks of harm (Martin and Felix-Bortolotti 2014). The care workers often face the situation of ethical dilemma where they fail to maintain the policies and rules of the organization for the well-being of the patients (Banks 2012). Conflicts arise between the care worker and the patient regarding culture, belief and opinion and the care workers on the grounds of ethics sort these out. The ethical grounds may or may not be aligned with the policies and rules of the organization (Purtilo and Doherty 2015). From the case of Ahmed and Sylvia, it can be concluded that person centered approach may help Angela to take proper and better care of Ahmed. Since Ahmed has become violent and stays awake at night, it can cause potential harm to him. However, the patient centered approach may reduce or nullify the harms and Angela can provide proper care to Ahmed. As per the present condition of Ahmed and the matured age of Sylvia, it is very logical to move him to a care home and amend his support plans. Since this upset Sylvia, Angela was forced to take care of Ahmed at home. This condition placed her in a situation of ethical dilemma where she had to divert from the organizational policies. A similar situation of ethical dilemma happened at my workplace. A patient with kidney failure required dialysis, but he had a strong belief that hospital environment might bring him more infections which will ultimately increase his illness. Therefore, he was transferred to his home where the dialysis setting was established and the treatment was provided. Although this was against the hospital policies, still I had to do this for the betterment of the patient in a situation of an ethical dilemma. This can be cited as a similar experience to the case study what Angela faced when she was made to take care of Ahmed at home. I was also in a state of ethical dilemma, as I had to breach the principles of healthcare as dialysis is supposed to be conducted in a hospital and not at home, just like the patients of Alzheimers disease has to be moved to a care home for proper treatment. Although these ethical dilemmas put the nurses like us in critical situations of law breaking, but it helps to take care of the patients with more compassion that leads to their faster recovery and satisfaction to the family. Conclusion Our society is engulfed with health risks and illness. No one can ever escape that. Therefore, care workers have a vital role in providing care to the patients to cure the illness. They should be well aware of the rules and policies to perform their duties. 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