Use and develop systems that promote communication essay sample

The learner can:
1. 1 Review the range of groups and individuals whose communication needs must be addressed in own job role

Communication is more than just what we say. It is how we say things and what we understand from what is said to us. Communication comes in different forms, including verbal, written word, lip reading, sign language and even body language.

As a Domiciliary Care Manager it is part of my job role to be able to communicate with a variety of groups and individuals ranging from service users, their families and staff to health professionals, social services and CQC. Everybody has the right to choose their preferred method of communication, as communication is a basic human right, without it an individual will not be able to exercise their rights, choices, or wishes. Effective communication is paramount to enable us to support an individual with their daily living outcomes. It empowers individuals by allowing them to express their needs, worries, and wishes. Service users need to maintain their dignity and sense of identity while receiving care. This can only be achieved if they have the opportunity to express their wishes and to be understood by their carers.

Dementia, elderly, physical disabilities and stroke are the main groups of people that our agency supports at present. Listed below are some groups of people who may have communication issues that Cambridgeshire Homecare may support.

Dementia: Dementia is the most common mental health problem within the elderly. Dementia can be permanent or progressive depending on the type of dementia the person has. It occurs following changes to the brain in which cells gradually stop working leading to a gradual deterioration in abilities. This can cause many communication problems ranging the person forgetting simple words to a severe breakdown in both understanding and expression.

Hearing Loss: Hearing loss affects people of all ages, but the problem is more common among the elderly. Hearing loss refers to reduced hearing, which can be caused by a variety of factors. It is different from deafness, which is present from birth and may be caused by genetic factors. Reduced hearing affects a person in many ways, including their education and job opportunities, social life and confidence. Many people with hearing loss experience a drop in self-esteem and confidence because of their impaired ability to communicate with other people.

Physically Disabled: The majority of people who have motor damage may have mild to serious communication difficulties. When muscle function is impaired, speech may be accompanied by facial distortion, dribbling, and random body movements. The physical tension associated with speaking and the difficulty in being understood, often cause those with disabilities from attempting to communicate.

Mental Health Problems: Having mental health problems may affect the persons’ ability to communicate as they may be embarrassed by their condition, have low self esteem or perhaps a poor self image of others. Visual Impairments: Visual impairments can affect a persons’ ability to communicate effectively with others. Only a small amount of what we communicate is verbal the rest is non verbal. How we stand, hand gestures, body language, head nodding, facial expressions are all types of non verbal communication. These types of non-verbal messages may be lost or misunderstood by people with poor vision. Stroke: Many people have communication problems after a stroke. About a third of stroke survivors have some difficulty with speaking or understanding what others say, and this can be frightening and frustrating. A stroke can affect communication in different ways.

The main conditions that can happen after stroke are: Aphasia – Aphasia (sometimes called dysphasia) is the name for the most common language disorder caused by stroke. Aphasia can affect how you speak, your ability to understand what is being said, and your reading or writing skills. Dysarthria – Dysarthria happens when a stroke causes weakness of the muscles you use to speak. This may affect the muscles you use to move your tongue, lips or mouth, control your breathing when you speak or produce your voice. Dyspraxia – Dyspraxia is a condition that affects movement and coordination. Dyspraxia of speech happens when you cannot move muscles in the correct order and sequence to make the sounds needed for clear speech Learning Disabilities: People with serious learning disabilities can definitely have difficulties with communication. A common type of learning problem is an expressive language disorder. As the name implies, individuals with this type of problem have difficulties expressing themselves using language so they find it difficult to communicate his/her needs, wishes or desires.

1. 2 Explain how to support effective communication within own job role.

Within my job role as a Manager of a domiciliary care agency it is important to have good communication skills to develop positive relationships with the service users to enable an effective needs assessment, risk assessment and complex care plan that is suited fully to the service users needs and wishes. During the assessment period the persons’ communication needs are identified and added to the needs/risk assessment ensuring that the care/support workers are fully aware of the communication needs of the service user. Discovering more about the client and their individual needs are another factor of effective communication within the working practice. To ensure that I gather as much information as possible regarding the individual I also need to develop positive relationships with:

Family, Friends and Informal Carers: These are the people who know and understand the individual the best. They are normally the most important people in the service users’ lives. A lot can be learned from the family about the individuals’ needs to enable us to gain a greater understanding as well as us educating them in the support that may be required to communicate effectively with the service user.

GP’s / Consultants: Close working relationships between a managers and GPs are associated with a range of positive outcomes. These relationships need to be trusting and supportive, and involve mutual recognition and respect, to have the most impact on the communication needs of the service user. Social Workers / Social Services: Social workers work with people to support them through difficult times and ensure that vulnerable people are safeguarded from harm. Their role is to provide support to enable service users to help themselves.

Speech Therapist: Speech and language therapists assess and treat speech, language and communication problems in people of all ages to help them better communicate. They’ll also work with people who have eating and swallowing problems.

Occupational therapist: Occupational therapists work with people of all ages to help them overcome the effects of disability caused by physical or psychological illness, ageing or accident.

Psychiatrist: Assesses, diagnoses, and treats mental disorders including learning disabilities, dementia, and behavioral problems.

Care / Support Staff: It is essential that care staff understand and identify the importance of each individuals’ communication needs or preferences which are recorded within the individuals support plan. It is paramount that carers are trained to understand the importance of effective communication and they need to be able to access advice and information if they require. Effective communication enables carers to express trust, acceptance, understanding, and support.

1. 3 Analyse the barriers and challenges to communication within own job role

Good communication is vital in social care. It enables us to build relationships with service users and their families, develop relationships with fellow care staff, managers and other health and social care staff, provide clear information to service users and fellow care staff, and carry out appropriate reporting and recording.

There are many barriers that can affect communication:

Language Barriers: Speaking different languages, jargon, and accents can all affect effective communication.

Environmental Barriers: might occur if there is too much noise, if the room is too congested or there may not be enough light in the room.

Cultural differences: The norms of social interaction vary greatly in different cultures, as do the way in which emotions are expressed. For example, the concept of personal space varies between cultures and between different social settings.

Physical barriers to non-verbal communication: Not being able to see the non-verbal cues, gestures, posture and general body language can make communication less effective. Psychological Barriers: Personal problems and stress can cause a person to be less receptive. Anger can cause people to misinterpret what is being said to them. Fear can cause people to “ close” down and not communicate.

Physiological Barriers: May result from a person with sight or hearing loss. Someone with reduced hearing may not grasp the whole of a spoken conversation especially if there is a lot of background noise.

Systematic Barriers: may exist in structures and organizations where there is an insufficient or inappropriate information system and communication channel, or where there is a lack of understanding within the roles and responsibilities of communication.

Attitude Barriers: Behaviours or perceptions that prevent people from communicating effectively. Attitude barriers may result from personality conflicts, poor management, or resistance to change.

Health Issues: Illnesses and injuries can cause people to withdraw and feel they don’t wish to see others or talk about how they are. Medication and operations may also affect an individuals ability to speak, concentrate or use non verbal methods of communicating.

1. 4 Implement a strategy to overcome communication barriers

When caring for someone it is important that you communicate as clearly and truthfully as possible. However, there are times when this might not be possible, but understanding some of the barriers that prevent communication from taking place may improve our communication skills.

It is important that care staff communicate with the service user at all times. Saying hello and goodbye are equally as important as asking the service user for information about their condition, day, feelings, or consent to care and treatment. It may be the difference between the person feeling they have been treated with dignity and respect, and received high quality care and treatment, or not.

During the initial assessment of the service user we are able to establish if there are any communication issues / barriers that need addressing and ensure that it is clearly written within the service users’ care / support plan. This could include:

Ensuring carers are aware of, and have received appropriate training to understand and support the service user with their communication needs and aids.

Learn to listen not only to the words being spoken but how they are being spoken and the non-verbal messages sent with them.

Gaining advice and working in partnership with professionals such as speech therapists, interpreters, opticians, psychologists ect to arrange appropriate equipment or aids.

Ensuring the environment is comfortable and encourages communication – make sure it is not too hot or cold and that it is well lit.

Face the person you are talking to and speak clearly and slowly giving them time to respond.

1. 5 Use different means of communication to meet different needs

As a Domiciliary Care Manager I require effective communication skills in order to work with the diverse range of people I meet within the Health and Social Care sector. These may include Social Workers, GP’s, Specialised Nurses, Psychologists, Speech Therapists, Service Users and Carers. A service users needs and what form of communication is needed to best suit these needs is determined at the initial assessment period. There are many different forms of communication.

Verbal Communication: Communication through talking and listening. Verbal communication refers to the use of sounds and language to relay a message. It serves as a vehicle for expressing desires, ideas and concepts. In combination with nonverbal forms of communication, verbal communication acts as the primary tool for expression between two or more people. Listening is much harder than speaking and there is more to this skill than just waiting for the other person to stop talking.

Non Verbal Communication: As well as communication through speech, people use a variety of forms of non-verbal communication. Some of these are referred to as body language. Facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture, and touch or contact are all examples of body language. Non verbal communication is an extremely complex yet important part of overall communication skills. People are sometimes totally unaware of the non verbal behaviour they use. A basic awareness of non verbal communication can help to improve interaction with others.

Technological Aids: Electronic communicators, hearing aids, and videophones are all designed to help people who have difficulty sending or sending messages. Hearing aids assist people who have impaired hearing. Light writers are portable devices in which an individual type in what they want to say.

Human Aids: These include people who work as interpreters or translators. Signers are people who use sign language to communicate what has been said such as British Sign Language or Makaton.

Braille: A series of indentations made on paper for people with visual impairments who use their sense of touch to read.

Learning Outcome 2: Be able to improve communication systems and practices that support positive outcomes for individuals.

Assessment Criteria

2. 1 Monitor the effectiveness of communication systems and practices

In order to monitor the effectiveness of communication systems and practices within a domiciliary care agency a system must be put in place that is able to track and observe all data and information that is collected. Upon the initial assessment the individuals’ communication needs and method are identified. This information is written into their care plan and carers are made aware of the identified needs. For any monitoring to be successful it is paramount that carers understand that their feedback / comments are an important tool within the monitoring process and they are encouraged to report any concerns or issues they may have relating to a service user. CambridgeshireHomeCare carry out reviews on a three monthly basis.

During these reviews the service users’ communication needs and methods are reviewed to ensure they still meet the required outcomes. My job as a manager is to collate all of this data and information to ensure that any changes are updated onto the service users care plan and risk assessment and to relay this updated information to team. Regular team meetings are an essential tool in ensuring all are aware of changes. A weekly confidential newsletter is also printed to ensure the carers are aware if any service users have had any changes to their risk assessments or care plans.

2. 2 Evaluate the effectiveness of existing communication systems and practices.

When agreed communication needs and methods have been established it is important that they are evaluated to ensure that they remain effective for the individual. The agreed methods of communication only remain effective if the individuals needs stay the same.

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