Health and Social Care
A reflective account (II)
During my role as health care assistant in the care home setting where I work I spent a considerable amount of time on a one to one basis as a key worker with a particular resident. For the purpose of this reflective account the resident shall be referred to as Mrs S. Mrs S had vascular dementia as her dementia progressed her challenging behaviours increased. Mrs S spent a great deal of her day walking around the care home. On good days this was not an issue. However on days that were not so good, Mrs S would walk push through furniture to repeatedly slam her fists against the windows, television screens and any mirrored service shouting and swearing loudly. If another resident, visitor or member of staff from the care home was to approach Mrs S, she would verbally abuse them which, with other residents, resulted in physical confrontations. In the first instance it was important that I protected Mrs S from physically harming herself, often placing myself between her and the object of her attention, gently manoeuvring her away and diverting her attention on to something else. This behaviour would repeat itself throughout the day causing stress to myself, staff, visitors and residents. Night times, however, were different to a degree. Mrs S would continue to walk through the care home if left unapproached was content. The behaviour of hitting out at mirrored surfaces only started when assisted with personal care in her room.
To manage Mrs S’s challenging behaviour nursing staff would administer sedatives. Although effective in minimising Mrs S’s challenging behaviour by causing her to sleep for long periods I personally believed and felt this was wrong. As Mrs S’s keyworker I had a responsibility to Mrs S that I learn all I could about her life history and medical conditions so that if possible other steps rather than sedatives could be taken. Although Mrs S’s care plan contained a brief life history there were substantial gaps and
During my role as health care assistant in the care home setting where I work I spent a considerable amount of time on a one to one basis as a key worker with a particular resident. For the purpose of this reflective account the resident shall be referred to as Mrs S. Mrs S had vascular dementia as her dementia progressed her challenging behaviours increased. Mrs S spent a great deal of her day walking around the care home. On good days this was not an issue. However on days that were not so good, Mrs S would walk push through furniture to repeatedly slam her fists against the windows, television screens and any mirrored service shouting and swearing loudly. If another resident, visitor or member of staff from the care home was to approach Mrs S, she would verbally abuse them which, with other residents, resulted in physical confrontations. In the first instance it was important that I protected Mrs S from physically harming herself, often placing myself between her and the object of her attention, gently manoeuvring her away and diverting her attention on to something else. This behaviour would repeat itself throughout the day causing stress to myself, staff, visitors and residents. Night times, however, were different to a degree. Mrs S would continue to walk through the care home if left unapproached was content. The behaviour of hitting out at mirrored surfaces only started when assisted with personal care in her room.
To manage Mrs S’s challenging behaviour nursing staff would administer sedatives. Although effective in minimising Mrs S’s challenging behaviour by causing her to sleep for long periods I personally believed and felt this was wrong. As Mrs S’s keyworker I had a responsibility to Mrs S that I learn all I could about her life history and medical conditions so that if possible other steps rather than sedatives could be taken. Although Mrs S’s care plan contained a brief life history there were substantial gaps and