Zoë Rawles - Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners

Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners

This fully updated and revised edition of Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners is a practical and comprehensive text designed to equip you with the necessary clinical skills for your profession. This book:

equips you with the knowledge to provide the safest and most effective patient care possible;

provides evidence-based guidelines to ensure best practice that is matched to the National Occupational Standards and the Care Certificate;

includes new chapters on administering injections, ear irrigation and examining the feet of people with diabetes, and an entirely rewritten chapter on protocols;

addresses the evolving role of the healthcare assistant and training opportunities;

supplies comprehensive coverage of both primary and secondary care settings, with an emphasis on primary care;

covers accountability, communication skills, confidentiality and reflection; and

uses a light-hearted and accessible style, with definitions, case studies and activities to aid understanding.

This is an indispensable guide for all those training as healthcare assistants and assistant practitioners, and an introductory textbook for students embarking on nursing and health and social care programmes.

Zo Rawles is a healthcare trainer for HealthTrain in Wales, UK.

Essential Knowledge and Skills
for Healthcare Assistants and
Assistant Practitioners

Second Edition

Zo Rawles

Second edition published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 Zo Rawles

The right of Zo Rawles to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by CRC Press 2013

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-1-138-09355-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-09356-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-10675-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Minion Pro
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK

This book is for all the amazing healthcare assistants and assistant practitioners I have ever had the privilege to teach or work with, and the many others I have never met.

I hope you find this book useful in your quest for training and knowledge.

Be proud of the wonderful work you do, and keep learning!

Zo Rawles qualified as a nurse in 1980, having trained on one of the first nursing degree courses in the country, graduating from the Welsh National School of Medicine in 1980. She spent most of her career working in primary care as a practice nurse. In 1999, she graduated as a nurse practitioner from Swansea University with a first-class honours degree, and subsequently worked as a lecturer on the same course from 2001 to 2009 during its transition from degree to masters course. In 2010, Zo co-wrote a book, Physical Examination Procedures for Advanced Nurses and Independent Prescribers , with two colleagues.

In 2003, while working in general practice, Zo mentored healthcare assistants who were undergoing training, and she became very interested in the developing role of the healthcare assistant. She set up a business (HealthTrain) with a nursing colleague and delivered accredited training for primary care staff, including healthcare assistants. Zo has been running the business single-handedly since 2009, and has been instrumental in developing a Level 3 Diploma course for HCAs with her local health board (Hywel Dda University Health Board in West Wales).

www.healthtrain.co.uk

Lucy Freegard is an illustrator and childrens book author from London. Her books include Just Like Daddy , Just Like Mummy and Ballet Bunnies , published by Pavilion Childrens Books. She has an MA in childrens book illustration from Cambridge School of Art, a BA in illustration from Cardiff School of Art & Design, and did her Art Foundation at Falmouth University. Lucy lives and works in Bristol.

www.lucyfreegard.com

I was so pleased to be asked to write the foreword for the second edition of Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners . It is a welcome update to the previously well-received first edition, which was published in 2014.

Healthcare assistants are a valuable and increasingly important part of the wider team of healthcare professionals. This user-friendly book will equip the reader with the underpinning knowledge and skills they need to help them in the delivery of high-quality, safe and effective care. The book covers vital aspects of the HCA role and reinforces the importance of patient-centred care throughout.

The chapters have been well researched and are written in language that is accessible to all. There are a range of topics that combine step-by-step guidance and information, with an insight into the working lives of HCAs. It is particularly relevant to those who work in a primary care setting, helping them at every stage of their development to understand their responsibilities and enabling them to work in the most appropriate and effective way within their practice.

Clinical skills are fundamental to the role of the healthcare assistant. The practical skills and guidance in this book are well explained and will help to broaden the readers understanding of how and why certain interventions are performed. The addition of new chapters on ear irrigation, diabetic foot examination and administering injections makes this book a key resource in helping to support programmes of education, and should be on every GP practices bookshelf.

Zo Rawles has been involved in the education and training of HCAs since 2003. Previously a nurse practitioner with many years experience, Zo has an aptitude for explaining complex issues in a clear and uncomplicated way. Zo draws on her wide experience to illustrate the text with examples that bring the concepts to life. Any HCA who reads this book will gain a comprehensive understanding of how to carry out tasks related to their role competently.

Lorraine Hicking-Woodison
Professional Lead for HCAs Nursing, Royal College of Nursing

I was delighted to be asked to write a second edition of this book and for the opportunity to update the information and add some extra chapters. I have included chapters on immunisation, ear irrigation and diabetic foot examination in this edition, as these are tasks that are now so relevant to the work of the healthcare assistant (HCA) and assistant practitioner (AP), especially those who are working in general practice. I have also expanded the chapter on communication a little to include some information on communicating with patients who have dementia. This is so important today, and is a subject very close to my heart as my own dear Dad suffered for many years with Alzheimers.