PERSONAL QUALITIES OF A HEALTH CARE WORKER GAIL JONES

PERSONAL APPEARANCE  Professional Standards That Apply to All Health Care Careers  Good Health  Health Care Professionals are required to promote health and prevention of disease  5 factors that contribute to good health must be promoted to your patients and modeled by you  Diet: Well balanced meals and nutritious foods

 Food Guide Pyramid

 Rest: Adequate rest and sleep help provide energy and the ability to deal with stress. The amount required varies from individual to individual.  Exercise: Exercise daily at least 20 minutes.  Good Posture: Helps prevent fatigue and puts less stress on muscles.  Avoid the use of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs: tobacco use affects the function of the heart, lungs, circulatory system and digestive system. Use of alcohol and drugs interfere with mental function and decrease ability to make decisions. Use also affects several body systems negatively. Alcohol and drug use may result in job loss.

 Nails: Keep your nails short and clean. No artificial nails or polish. Nails harbor germs and can tear gloves. Clean unpolished nails provide patients with the security that the nails are clean.  Hair: Keep it clean and neat, pulled back and off the shoulders  Jewelry: Only thing you should wear is a watch, wedding ring, small earrings. Body piercing are considered unprofessional and are not allowed by many facilities

 Makeup and tattoos: avoid excessive makeup and cover tattoos.

Professional Appearance  Each place of employment will establish the rules and standards for their facility. Know these rules and standards.  Make sure your clothing is clean, neat and free of wrinkles – this includes scrubs or uniforms  Wear your name tag at all times  Shoes should be safe and comfortable (no open toed shoes or sandals). Clean your shoes daily.

 Personal hygiene: You will be in close contact with your patients and co-workers! Shower or bath daily, practice good oral hygiene, and do not wear perfume or cologne

 Nails: Keep nails short and clean. No artificial nails or dark polish. Artificial nails harbor germs, and long nails can tear gloves exposing you and your patient to germs.  Hair: Keep hair clean and neat. If you have long hair, put it up in a ponytail.  Jewelry: Watch, wedding rings and small earrings are okay.  Makeup and tattoos: Avoid excessive makeup and cover tattoos.

Personal Characteristics  Make every effort to develop these characteristics:  Empathy: be sincere, be able to identify with and understand your patient’s feelings  Honesty: Integrity, truthfulness, be honest about mistakes so they can be corrected.  Dependability: be prompt and maintain a good attendance record.  Willingness to learn: there is constant change in the medical field, you must be willing to learn and implement new processes.

 Patience: tolerance and understanding.  Acceptance of criticism: accept criticism and learn from it. Don’t wear your feelings on your sleeve.  Enthusiasm: be positive and enjoy your work  Self-motivation: begin and follow through with a task, do what needs to be done without being told.  Tact: say or do the kindest or most fitting thing in a difficult situation. Do not be judgmental

 Competence: practice your skills and make sure you are qualified to perform a task before you do it.  Responsibility: be willing to be held accountable for your actions.  Discretion: use good judgment, ensure the patient’s rights are not violated.  Team player: work well with others.

Effective Communication  Health care workers must be able to communicate with patients, families and other professionals. Communication can be: Verbal: spoken Nonverbal: facial expression, body language and touch

 3 Parts of communication:  Sender: individual who creates the message  Message: information, ideas, or thoughts  Receiver: individual who receives the message from the sender

 Feedback occurs when the receiver responds to the sender. We determine if communication was successful with feedback. Feedback can be verbal or nonverbal.  Factors that interfere with communication:  The message is not clear  The receiver does not understand the message  Interruptions or distractions

Listening  Another important factor in communication is listening:  Show interest and concern for what the speaker is saying  Be alert and maintain eye contact  Avoid interrupting  Pay attention  Avoid thinking ahead  Eliminate your own prejudices

 Eliminate distractions  Watch for unspoken cues  Reflect statements back to the speaker  Ask for clarification  Maintain a positive attitude

Barriers to Communication  Physical Disabilities  Deafness or hearing loss  Blindness or impaired vision  Aphasia (loss of ability to comprehend or speak normally) or speech impairments

 Psychological barriers:  Prejudice  Attitudes  Stereotypes

 Cultural Diversity: The different values, beliefs, attitudes and customs shared by a group of people and passed from one generation to the next.  Beliefs and practices regarding health and illness  Language differences  Eye-contact  Touch

 Respect for and acceptance of cultural diversity is essential for any health care worker.

Record Keeping and Reporting  Health care workers must be able to communicate all observations through documentation.  Two types of observations:  1. Subjective observations- commonly called symptoms. Usually in the form of statements or complaints by the patient. Report them in the exact words used by the patient.  2. Objective observations-commonly called signs. These are seen or measured by the health care provider. (rash, temperature, cut)

 Observations must be reported promptly. As a health care worker you will use all senses when making observations.  Keep the following in mind when reporting observations.  Record information accurately, concisely, and completely  Write neat and legible  Use correct spelling and grammer

 Report objective observations only in the patient’s chart  If subjective observations are entered be sure to write in the exact words and enclose in quotation marks.  Sign your entry with your name and title(G. Jones, RN)  Errors are crossed out neatly with a single straight line and error recorded above the entry and initials of the person making the error

HIPAA  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act  Health care facilities must maintain strict standards for maintaining confidentiality of health care records.  Maintain the patient’s confidentiality at all times!!

Teamwork  Teamwork is many professionals, with differing levels of education, ideas and backgrounds working together to provide the best care possible for the patient.  Health Care teams identify the needs of the patient, offer opinions on the best type of care, and suggest additional professionals who might be able to assist with specific needs

Professional Leadership  The skill or ability to encourage people to work together to achieve a common goal.  Leadership passes from member to member within a group  Anyone can be a leader by making an effort to understand the principles of leadership.

 Characteristics of a leader include:  Respect the rights, dignity and opinions and abilities of others  Understands the principles of democracy  Works with a group and guides the group toward a goal  Understands own strengths and weaknesses  Displays self-confidence and willingness to take a stand  Communicates effectively

 Shows self-initiative and a willingness to work  Completes tasks  Shows optimism  I s openminded and can compromise  Gives credit to others

 3 types of leaders  1. Democratic leader: encourages participation of all individuals  2. Laissez-faire leader: believes in noninterference will strive for only minimal rules or regulations  3. Autocratic leader: “dictator” maintains total rule, makes all decisions, has difficulty delegating or sharing duties

Stress  Health care workers deal with stress on a daily basis.  Their own  Their patient’s

 Stress is the body’s reaction to any stimulus (stressor) that requires a person to adjust to a changing environment.  Stressors:  Situations, events, concepts; can be external (new job/school) or internal (heart attack)  Regardless of the cause the body will react the same way.

 Reaction to a stressor causes the body to go into a “fight or flight” mode  Heart rate and blood pressure rises  Respirations increase  Digestion slows  Mouth becomes dry

 Not all stress is harmful. Small amounts will help you be alert and raise your energy level.  How a person reacts to the stressor determines whether it will be harmful or helpful

To control a stressor  Make note of the following  What was the event  Why you feel stress  How much stress you experience  Do you have negative or positive feelings

Problem Solving Method to Control Stress  Gather information or data  Identify the problem  List possible solutions  Make a plan  Act on your solution  Evaluate the results  Change the solution

4 steps to gain control of stressful situations  1. Stop what you are doing  2. Take slow deep breaths  3. Reflect think about the problem at hand and the cause of the stress  4. Choose how you want to deal with the stress

Other techniques to use to reduce stress  Live a healthy life  Take a break from stressors  Relax  Escape  Relieve tension  Rely on others  Mediate

 Use imagery  Enjoy yourself  Renew yourself  Think positively  Develop outside interests  Seek assistance or delegate tasks  Avoid too many commitments

Manage Time  Using time in the best way possible  Reduces stress  Set Goals  Goals provide direction  Two types of goals:  1. Short term-small steps taken to get to your long term goal  2. Long term – take months or years or a lifetime to accomplish

Setting Time Management Goals  Analyze and prioritize: list tasks in order from most important to least important  Identify habits and preferences: when do you have the most energy? Most attentive?  Schedule tasks: use a daily planner or calendar  Make daily “to do” lists  Plan your work: do one thing at a time

 Avoid distractions: avoid interruptions  Take credit for a job well done: recognize your achievements  REMEMBER: Unexpected emergencies, a new assignment, a complication and/or overscheduling are common in health care careers-use your time wisely and learn to manage stress