Culture and Care Value Base Essay

In this assignment I am going to examine and explain my own personal values and principles influence my own work in professional practice. I will compare my principles and values with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council codes of practice and the Care Value Base. The NISCC and the Care Value Base have many similar codes of practice which all health and social care practitioners should adhere by and work with. The values I feel that are relevant within my experience of healthcare and within my current placement are confidentiality, dignity and respect, effective communication, anti-discriminatory practice and culture and beliefs. In researching NISCC codes of practice and the Care Value Base, I have found that their values are also similar to my own values within my care practice. The first value I am going to discuss is confidentiality. According to the Care Value Base maintaining confidentiality of information is an important part of caring. Any information clients give is private and confidential. Individuals need to be aware of what they say to other carers and clients and also who have access to client files. Previously undergoing work experience in the stroke ward I found that all patients’ medical information is on a clipboard on the front of their bed, anyone could read this information, I feel the patient’s confidentiality is  being breached. During my work placement at Ceara School, I observed that each pupil has individual care folders within school; these are kept in a secure filling cabinet and only the members of staff who are looking after a particular pupil is allowed access, I feel this is very good practice to uphold confidentiality. Within my placement I feel my values would be similar to the Care Value base, if a service user informed me of private information I would keep it to myself to build trust and confidence unless the individual or others were at harm. The second value that I feel is most important and relevant to my experience and work placement is effective communication. According to NISCC, one of their codes of practice is to communication in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way. Within my work placement you have to have recognition and respect of the pupil’s opinions and ideas so they gain confidence within you and be more comfortable to talk. You also have to talk respectfully and use a lot of humor and creativity to keep them interested. On a regular basis there are group conversations and also one to one conversations, simple language is used that is easily understood and additionally open questions are applied to develop the conversation. With having previous work experience in Craigavon Area Hospital I have learnt the importance of communication. Many doctors used jargonistic terms, which can be very hard for patients to understand, I consider this to be ineffective communication. I feel my values are comparable to those of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council. I think that my value of communication within my work placement will come across positively. While in placement I make the speaker feel heard and understood, I make sure to create an environment where pupils feel safe to express ideas opinions and feelings. I keep suitable eye contact and show interest in what is being said and sure my posture is open and inviting. The Care Value Base deems that it is important to acknowledge an individuals personal beliefs and identity. The NISCC feel that respective diversity and different cultures and values are very significant and can have extensive affects on a persons care. I went to an integrated secondary school with many cultures and religions. I took part in a multi-cultural day in school, I got to see other communities and cultures and what they believed in, this widened my views and changed my opinions of different religions. While in Craigavon Area Hospital completing work experience I learned that meals and meal times were very important in some religions and culture. Some individuals were vegetarian; I had to be very respectable of their culture and identity. They were supplied with a different menu with different foods that they could choose this promotes the right of choice and independence. Before my work placement commenced I hoped that the employees and pupils had the same value as myself in consideration of different cultures and are open to express their beliefs and identity and be proud of who they are. My next value is extremely important in my care practice and that is upheld by NISCC and the Care Value Base is anti-discriminatory practice. Anti-discriminatory practice is action to prevent discrimination against people on the grounds of race, class, gender and disability. Anti-discriminatory practice promotes equality by introducing anti-discriminatory policies in different situations of work. http://uk.ask.com/question/what-is-the-definition-of-anti-discriminatory-practice The Care Value Base describes one of their values by promoting anti-discriminatory practice and to protect the individual from abuse. There are many pieces of legislation that are in place to protect individuals from discrimination including the Disability Act 1995, Human Rights Act,  Equality Act 2010 and the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. In my work placement I will work in an anti-discriminatory way, I will not discriminate or judge the service users on their gender, race, class or disability. I believe everyone is different and we all have rights set in place to prevent us from being discriminated against. While undertaking work experience in Craigavon Area Hospital, disabled individuals were protected from discriminatory practice, there were lifts and ramps so all wheel chairs could access the building. There were wide and automatic doors so wheel chairs could get through them with no difficulty, although I feel this is very good practice there was also bad practice within the hospital. I consider individuals with different religions and languages were discriminated against. There were no interpreters for different languages therefore the patients didn’t know what had happened or what was about to happen. I feel my values hinder those of the Care Value Base and I imagine my values will come across positively within my work placement. I feel my personal culture and experience has influenced me in many different ways in supporting users of services and others in health and social care settings. My parents have taught me from a young age to say please and thank you and to be respectful to others. I have grown up knowing these simple values and therefore it has influenced me to show dignity and respect to all service users. Although I am of a Catholic background and practice the Catholic faith, I went to an integrated primary school and secondary school with many different religions and cultures. I now have an understanding of other cultures within health and socials care settings and I am able to accept other religions and their beliefs. I believe this have had a positive influence on my personal culture and experience. When I was in primary school, I met my best friend, he was homosexual. My parents were quite weary of this as they didn’t like the way he dressed and  acted. They came to the terms of his sexual orientation and accepted him; because I have had the privilege of meeting him it has allowed me to open my eyes to all sexual ordinations. When working and supporting users of health and social care service I wouldn’t mind what sexual ordination the service user was, I would not discriminate against them. I would promote and uphold my values to protect them from harm. From experience I know many people have been discriminated on because of their gender. Some individuals will not be chosen for a particular job because they are male/female. Service users are also judged on their sexual ordinations, recently in the news according to Poots, Northern Irelands Health Minister he said that all gay men are not allowed to give blood. I feel this sexual ordination is being discriminated against, it is very bad practice and defeats the purpose of legislation created to protect individuals from this happening. I will promote and uphold my values to protect individuals from being discriminated against. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15014823 I think a pedophile and a murder would cause a barrier in the care setting I am working in. I have grown up knowing that they are bad from family, friends and the media. This may affect and hinder my work but as I am now aware of this negative point I need to work on this barrier. I can not make an assumption until I work and understand them, until then, I will try not to judge this group. New developments and changes to personal values can have a major impact on working in the Health and Social Care sector. Firstly a new development of mine is starting a new course; I have met new people and got to know them. Working in different practices can impact work in a care setting, partnership can be developed and new skills can be gained. I have started a new placement in Ceara School, I am very excited to see if it is the right area of health and social care I want to do further studying in. I feel this experience can be very education and rewarding. This experience will help me in my future and will give me a good start. I can now see that it is the first time I have looking at my values thoroughly and reflected on them, I  will challenge my values to become a better professional. I feel guest speakers were a new development of mine, they give me an insight into their organisation, and they also give me information on how I could get work experience. New developments and changes to my personal values can benefit the service user. I could reflect more in action rather than later, use communication more effectively and user my initiative in different situations. To conclude I believe that personal values is very significant in influencing my own work in the health and social care sector. I have found that my values are similar to the values of the Care Value Base and the Northern Ireland Social Care Council. I have found that there is legislation to protect individuals from unconfidentiality and anti-discriminatory practice also to promote dignity and respect, effective communication and culture and beliefs. I have also explored my new developments and what changes I could make to my personal values to create more effective and efficient care.