Engage in Personal Development in Health, Social Care Essay

1.2 Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards. The expectations about my own work role as expressed in relevant standards are to; safeguard clients, to treat them with dignity and respect, to promote independence, to give them choice, and to make sure that they are in a clean and environment. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided. Working in care requires that in order to be an effective practitioner and to provide the best possible service for those you care for, you need to be able to reflect on what you do and the way you work and to also identify your strengths and weaknesses. It is important to examine the work that you have done and identify areas where you know you need to carry out additional development. 2.3 Describe how own values, beliefs systems and experiences may affect working practice. Everyone’s values and beliefs are affected to different degrees by the same range of factors. These may include: life stages, physical, social and emotional stages of development, employment, socio-economic circumstances, cultural background, religious beliefs and values, education, the effects of relationships, environment. You may believe that everyone should be treated in the same way, however there are differences in approach or attitude you may be unaware of. For example, you may not be aware that you are spending more time with someone who is asking your advice about a course of action which you think is sensible, than you are with someone who wanted to do something you thought inadvisable, there are many other ways in which your beliefs, interests and values can affect how you relate to people. It is important that you are aware of how you may behave differently towards people, because it could make a difference to the quality of your work. 3.1 Evaluate own knowledge, performance and understanding against relevant standards. My job came with a job description, but while that tells me what I need to do, it did not tell me how I needed to do it. To find that out, I needed to look at the Standards that apply to my work. Standards, as with Codes of Practice, will vary depending on the UK country in which you work. Each UK country has National Minimum Standards that are used by inspectors to ensure that services are being delivered at an acceptable level. Finally, and most importantly in terms of how I carry out my work, there are the National Occupational Standards (NOS). These apply across the whole of the UK, and explain what I need to know and be able to do in order to work effectively in social care. The National Occupational Standards form the basis for all the qualifications in the social care sector, and are divided into units of competence. Some of these are mandatory, and I am able to demonstrate competence in these areas. Other units are optional and I am able to demonstrate competence in those units relevant to my job role. In performing my job role, competence means that I have been able to provide evidence that I can demonstrate the skills and the underpinning knowledge contained in the National Occupational Standards. It is important to understand that competence is not only about doing the job; it is also about understanding why I do what I do and the theoretical basis that underpins the work.