Communication in a care setting

A care setting is somewhere; someone goes to get a form of care. There are three types of care settings these are health care setting. The most common health care setting is your local GP surgery. People usually use this setting for check up or to go to get prescribed medication and minor injuries. GP’s aren’t normally used for emergency’s you normally got to A&E for emergencies this is another health care setting this is usually used for major injury moat health care setting are NHS based which means it is free.

Early year’s care setting The most common early years care setting is nursery. Nurseries are there to take care of children to give parents opportunity to go back to work or just have time to them. There are the different types of early years provision, statutory this is services provided by law, voluntary services these are services that aren’t profit based and everyone that work there don’t get paidthesearen’t very common. Then private care settings these are profit based and are run like a business.

Most early year care settings are private but the Government Issue vouchers that entitle everyone to use private care settings a certain amount a week. Social care settings the most common social care setting is a elderly care home, these are there to take care of the elderly when they become vulnerable and are unable to care for themselves. This setting is usually a private setting and profit based. It is important to have a good communication between service providers and service users which helps in building relationship.

Having good communication helps in exchanging information, messages etc. There are four different types of communication and they are all important to exchange information and build relationship between people in care settings. The four different types are Computerised communication Computerised communication is when communication takes place electronically for example phones, computer, internet or fax . It is also a very quick form of interacting with people. Individuals can access a vast amount of information through the internet.

Email and text messages can reach people in a fraction of the time that paper-based written communication used to take place. It is possible to network with a wide range of other professionals rapidly using electronically recorded messages. Computerised records are very important in care work and should be treated with the same degree of formality as other written records. Computer communication has becomeallot more common in the last 50 years and in a way has replaced written communication as people tend to email each other or phone/text to communicate instead of writing letters.

Computerised records are very important in care work Computerised records are very important in care work and should be treated with the same degree of formality as other written records. With electronic records it is important to keep a ‘back up copy’ in case the system crashes. It is also important due to confidentiality that all records are password protected. In care setting computerised communication has become more popular and can be used for a variety of different reasons depending on the care setting. For example doctor making out a prescription slip on the computer for the patient to take to the pharmacist to get their medication.

This type of computerised communication would make sure that the prescription is correct as it’s done on the computer and it’s better than hand writing, in case the pharmacist wouldn’t understand the handwriting of the doctor and would give the patient the wrong medicine. It helps GP to be much safer and organized. Another example is from my work placement, I went to a nursery and the nursery did rely a lot on the computers between staff communication mainly, staff would email in if sick rather than phone also staff rotas would be emailed.

I went into a staff meeting at the beginning of the week and the first thing people are asked is if they looked at the rota emailed over the weekend, the information on that email was needed for everybody to be able to understand what was happening in the week. If someone had not read the email and they didn’t turn up to work the legal staff to child ratio would be incorrect. Another example of computerised communication on my placement was Oral communication Oral communication uses words to present ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Good verbal communication is the ability to both explain and present your ideas clearly through the spoken word, and to listen carefully to other people. This will involve using a variety of approaches and styles appropriate to the audience you are addressing. Oral communication is important in all care setting. The purpose of oral communication is to exchange information and build relationship between people. The two types of oral communication are formal and informal communication. The types of communication depend upon the level of the patients, family of the patient, staffs, society.

It is an effective and quick ways of communication. Different care settings exchange information in different ways. For example in health care setting, the most common health setting is your local GP. When you have a consultation with your GP you will be both talking. You will be giving your doctor information on your symptoms problems and past clinical histories . and background. Where your doctor will be giving you advice and assurance. Advice needs to be given clearly as it could be dangerous if the patient does the wrong thing for example taking more tablets than necessary.

Oral communication is also important in early year care settings. In a nursery you will be having to communicate with two people the child and the carer, and you would have to talk very differently, it’s important to talk with the child to build up a relationship with them help them to learn, encourage them to try to go further, to help them overcome barriersnursery nurses may have to deal with children having different behaviours. Some might not speak or feel shy to speak and some might be naughty. In that case, service providers should be wise and have patience to deal with.

They need to communicate in order to understand children’s need. So, they have to speak in a gentle way and help children to speak. Also oral communication is a way of figuring out emotions and picking up body language this is helpful as if a child is upset you have to deal with that. You would have to talk to the parents professionally and informative as they are likely to want to know the development of the child and what they have done during the day. In social care setting, they have to deal with different types of people of different ages.

For example the elderly in a elderly care home. Most elderly people are put into care homes because they are no longer capable of taking care of themselves. The elderly have decline in physical abilities which can make communication more challenging, and some illnesses make communication more difficult. A hearing loss makes you harder to understand, so be patient and speak more clearly. At my work placement most of the staff to child communication was oral, nursery nurses would be making sure the children are ok by asking questions throughout the day.

Also the register is done verbally the children have to shout yes Written communication Written communication is the use of letters and/or symbols to form a written message using words in the form of a language. Written communication began with pictures drawn on caves walls or stones called picture grams. Later alphabets were formed as a means to be constructed to form words to express verbal language. It is believed that the true writing of language was invented in Mesopotamia (specifically, ancient Sumer) in 3200 BC. Later paper was introduced and alphabets formed.

Written communication is used for formal correspondence today in letter, or report forms, although nowadays most written communication is done through computers using word processing. New technologies are rapidly changing they we communicate in the written form. Electronic mail allows people to communicate using written text to exchange information without using paper at all. With not having the time delay of people posting letters to each other, communications are concluded far more rapidly and without people having to be in the same physical space.

With the use of mobile phones and smart phones people today can communicate with anybody they know instantly anywhere in the world via the internet. Written communication in care settings is less popular since computer communication has been introduced. Writing letters used to be the only way of communicating. In a GP surgery written communication is minimal as it has been replaced by computerised communication. GP’s used to write prescription and write letters to patients to confirm appointments but it is usually all done on the computer now.

This is because using a computer is more effective as here isn’t confusion with hand writing or records being lost as they are all backed up on the computer. The computers are less reliable because of situation like power cuts, or if they break though. This is the only issue. The only time that a GP would use written communication is for appointment cards, these cards are used to write down appointment times and date it is usually the doctors secretary that does this. In a early years setting Most of the written communication is to the parents normally in the form of letters.

When I was at my work placement the nursery sent a letter round to the parents about a trip to the sea life centre this was given out to the parents, also throughout the day they have a written diary of what they have eaten if they went to the toilet and if they have had any accidents in the day and this is given to the parents so that they no what happens during their day. Special methods of communication The special methods can include British sign language (BSL) for the deaf.

It can also include Makaton which is a developing language that uses speech, signs and symbols to help people with learning difficulties. Also special methods can include Braille which is for the blind. It is a system of raised marks that can be felt with your fingers. Sign language British Sign Language (BSL) is the first or preferred language of around 250,000 Deaf people in the UK. It is a language of space and movement using the hands, body, face and head. Around 120,000 hearing people also use BSL, meaning it is used more than Welsh or Gaelic.

BSL was recognised as an official British language by the UK government on 18th March 2003, but it does not have any legal protection. This means that Deaf people do not have full access to information and services that hearing people take for granted, including education, health and employment. (http://www. bslworks. com/pages. asp? fid=197&pid=608) Sign language is a system of non verbal communication. It is normally used by the deaf. Sign language can be used or can be expressed in different ways.

Facial expressions are also used to communicate thought or ideas. Sign language is becoming more popular among people and there are many reasons why we should know sign language. One of the reasons is to communicate well with the deaf. If you do not know the language, then you will not be able to communicate with these people. They form a major part of the society and if you cannot communicate with them, you are not doing a fair thing to these people. Sign can also be expressed using your face, head and bod& Movements it is also a sign of early communication.

When you have learnt these basic movements, you can move forward and learn the advanced movements of the language. Sign language in services isn’t a legal requirement and local and small services aren’t likely to have them bigger health care services like A&E and Hospital are more likely to have doctors and nurses that no sign language or have an interpreter on sight. Sign language in a GP is not going to be common i think if someone who’s only way of communication is sign language would have to bring a interpreter with them in the consultation.

I didn’t see any sign language being used on my work placement as their were no deaf children at the nursery. Makaton Makaton is a method of communication using signs and symbols and I often used as a communication process for those with learning difficulties. It was first developed in the UK in the 1970s and is now used in over 40 countries around the world. Unlike BSL, Makaton uses speech as well as actions and symbols. It uses picture cards and ties in facial expressions with the word, to make the word more easily recognised by those with learning difficulties.

Makaton symbols support the written word in the same way that signs support speech. Most Makaton symbols are black and white pictures illustrating the meaning of the word. This has significantly helped children and adults who cannot read or write who can now have messages, shopping lists or even stories written in symbols. Makaton is most commonly used in early years out of the three. Schools use Makaton to develop pupils’ communication skills. Makaton uses speech and gesture, facial expression, eye contact and body language.

It is a language programme which is based on a selected list of everyday words. Makaton uses speech together with a sign (gesture) and/ or a symbol. The signs and symbols will give extra information which can be seen and through research it has been shown that babies and children learn these signs and gestures more easily than the spoken word. Makaton can help if a child has difficulties with understanding and speaking. Through Makaton, the child is able to develop important communication skills e. g. eye contact, turn taking, making choices, understanding, and sharing information.