1. Employability Skills for the Health Care Sector
Unit 04
Employability Skills for the Health Care Sector

2. Lesson 1
What skills do we need?

3. What this unit is about
The aim of this unit is to develop your personal and employability skills to prepare for a work placement.

4. We will learn about:
the employability and personal skills required of professionals within the health care sector
how to prepare for a work placement
how to set goals for a work placement

5. How this will help you
This unit will help prepare you for work in the health care sector by:
Developing the skills you will need to help you at work
Finding out what type of work you could do
Setting targets to help you do well in your work placement

6. Learning Hours & Assessment
This unit will take 25 hours
You will be assessed on the activities that you do through the course, including the worksheets you complete.

7. 1
Employability and personal skills for professionals in the health care sector

8. What skills do we need?
Think about the wider skills you need at work in addition to the specific ones you need for the job.
Note down some skills and we will discuss them.
Some examples to start with are:
Communication skills
IT skills

9. What skills do we need? Asking questions. Why?
So that you can find out the information you need to do your job.
Suggesting improvements. Why?
So that you can make things better for you, your colleagues and patients.
Working in a team. Why?
So that you can get things done with your colleagues and patients.
Participating in activities. Why?
So that you can make a contribution to patient care.
Reflecting on your own performance. Why?
So that you can see how you can improve.
Managing your own learning. Why?
So that you can learn what you need to know to do your job.

10. Asking questions and suggesting improvements
Lesson 2
Asking questions and suggesting improvements

11. Asking questions Knowing when to ask questions Plan ahead
Think about what you want to find out
Check information is accurate, reliable and clear
What questions should I ask?
Who should I ask?
What information do I need to know?
How will I know I have the right information?

12. Asking questions
Now complete the worksheet on Asking Questions

13. Suggesting improvements
Everyone has good ideas about how to improve things
Know when and how to suggest improvements
How to make effective suggestions appropriately:
What will the improvements be?
How do you know if it will work?
What is the timescale?
What will be the benefits?
What is your suggestion?
How are you going to make the suggestion?

14. Suggesting improvements
Now complete the worksheet on Suggesting improvements

15. Working as part of a team and participating in activities
Lesson 3
Working as part of a team and participating in activities

16. Working as part of a team
Why is team working important?
What is a team? Who is in it?
Communication and support are key for good team working
Who could be in your team and what could you do in it?
What could your role be?
How will you know if you have been successful?
How will you reflect on your role?

17. Working as part of a team
Now complete the worksheet on Working as part of a team

18. Participating in activities
What sort of activities do you participate in?
What is your role?
Do you make a contribution to the activity? What is this contribution?
What is the activity and who else is participating?
How will you reflect on what your contribution is?

19. Participating in activities
Now complete the worksheet on Participating in activities

20. Reflecting on your own performance and managing your own learning
Lesson 4
Reflecting on your own performance and managing your own learning

21. What is reflecting
Reflecting

22. Reflecting on your own performance
Reflecting on what we do helps us to improve.
Getting feedback is important to help us improve.
It is important to understand our strengths and the areas where we can improve.
Knowing what to do to improve.
What are you reflecting on?
How will you do this?
How will you record your strengths and areas for improvement?

23. Reflecting on your own performance
Now complete the worksheet on Reflecting on own performance

24. Managing your own learning
We improve our performance at work by learning
This is a continuous process
It is important to plan and manage your learning to make sure you are following the correct procedures and have the right skills and knowledge for your job.
You need to plan what learning is most important and set a timescale for that learning
Your task:
What learning are you undertaking?
How are you managing this learning?
What are your timescales?

25. Managing your own learning
Now complete the worksheet on Managing your own learning

26. How to prepare for a work placement2
How to prepare for a work placement

27. Preparing for a work placement (Part 1)
Lesson 5
Preparing for a work placement (Part 1)

28. Preparing for a work placement
What do I need to do?
Research potential organisations and job roles
Think about the skills I have and the skills I need
Set goals for my work placement – what do I need to learn and how will I know I have been successful?
Make sure that I am ready for the placement and have all the information I need

29. Researching potential organisations and job roles
What sorts of jobs would I like to do in health care?
Where would I like to work – what sort of health care facility?
What types of jobs are available for me?

30. Researching potential organisations and job roles
Sources of information:
The internet – job adverts, information provided by health care organisations, job vacancies, etc
Contacting health care organisations – asking for information about the company, talking to the HR department, etc.
Reading health care magazines to find out about the sector and its organisations

31. Preparing for a work placement
Now look at the Research worksheet – you will have time in the next lesson to complete this worksheet.
Start by thinking about what job you would like to do, discussing with other learners or your teacher.
Then start the research you will need to do to answer the questions on your worksheet.
You will need to research three organisations and three possible job roles.

32. Preparing for a work placement (Part 2)
Lesson 6
Preparing for a work placement (Part 2)

33. What you found out from your research
The organisations
The job roles
Whether you have enough information?
What is available and whether it matches your skills
How you will go about applying for the placement

34. Preparing for a work placement
Complete your Research worksheet.
We will then discuss what you have written with the class.

35. Skills for the work placement
Lesson 7
Skills for the work placement

36. Skills audit
What knowledge and skills do I need to work in the healthcare sector?
Knowledge of the healthcare sector. Do you know :
what it does?
who works in it?
who the customers/patients are?

37. Skills audit Personal skills Politeness Helpfulness Empathy Enthusiasm
Being presentable
Being on time

38. Skills audit Work skills Do I have these skills?
working as part of a team
communicating with others
managing my own workload
Do I have these skills?

39. Preparing for a work placement
Complete your Skills Audit Worksheet for one of the organisations from your research.
We will then discuss what you have written with the class.

40. Set goals for a work placement3
Set goals for a work placement

41. Setting goals (Part 1 and Part 2)
Lesson 8 and 9
Setting goals (Part 1 and Part 2)

42. Setting goals Why is it important to set goals? What are they for?
How do I set goals?
What do I want to achieve?
When do I want to achieve it?
How do I know I have achieved it?
Using SMART goals:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timely

43. Completing your goal setting worksheets
What is your goal?
What is the target date to achieve your goal?
What will you do to reach your goal?
How will you know you have reached your goal?
What will help you stick to your goal?

44. Goal setting
Complete your goal setting worksheet for one of the organisations from your research.
We will then discuss what you have written with the class.

45. Lesson 10 and 11
Skills review (1 and 2)

46. Skills review What skills do I have?
How do they match with the health care organisations and job roles I have researched?
Are there any areas I need to develop?
How will I use my skills in the job role I have chosen?
Do I feel confident about my placement?

47. Skills review Review the worksheets on research and goal setting
Prepare a short presentation that you will make to the class in the next lesson. The presentation should include:
What job you want to do
The skills you need
Whether you need to improve your skills
How you will improve your skills

48. Final preparations for work placement
Lesson 12 and 13
Final preparations for work placement

49. Final preparation for the work placement
My portfolio:
Completed tasks for asking questions, suggesting improvements, working with others, participating in activities, managing own learning and reflecting on performance
Research of health care organisations and job roles
Skills review completed
SMART goals

50. Final preparation for the work placement
Am I ready?

51. Final preparation Review all the worksheets from this unit.
Reflect on what you have written and decide if you need to find out any thing else about your work placement.
This is an opportunity to discuss things with other learners and to ask your teacher questions.