Health and Social Care

M2:

Review a wide range of strategies assessing the potential for each to overcome barriers to communication and interpersonal interactions. There should be a clear explanation of how each factor, including environmental and personal factors, may influence the outcome of the interaction for each party.

D1:

Evaluate the strategies used to overcome barriers to communication. Include those which are used to break down more common barriers but also those caused by more challenging and complex situations professionals working in health and social care.

M2 –

For my work placement at Octavia housing i will be working with a range of elderly people, some of which may have disabilities and or sensory impairments. There are strategies in place to help communication between staff and service users, and service users in general. For example in the hallways and on all doors there are signs and braille indicating which room it is, and the direction in which they are going. At the placement there is also a loop system in place for people with hearing impairments, as the support care home is based on a busy road, there can be a lot of background noise; this is where a loop system comes into place. This is very helpful because it makes it easier for the service users to hear and understand the conversation. The staffs at Octavia housing is trained to communicate with people with disabilities and impairments, this helps them when it comes to having conversations with the service users, so that the correct level of care can be provided.

D1-

Braille is a form of written language for blind people, in which characters are represented by patterns of raised dots that are felt with the fingertips. It is a positive way to communicate as it is easy to learn, can be easily placed anywhere as well as being very helpful for people with sight impairments, widely used, reliable. However, it is quite small and often hard to find. The loop systems hearing loop is a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. It is easy to use and is used in most places; it can help make communication easier and clearer and reduces background noise. However, it can only be used with hearing aids/implants, not used everywhere and can be very hard to understand. BSL is a British Sign Language and is a form of sign language that is used in Britain it involves the use of hand movements, gestures, facial expressions and body language to communicate. It’s a common skill to learn, easy to communicate and no verbal communication is needed. On the other hand, it’s only for the English language, may be hard for people to understand if English is not their first language.  Staff training is training to improve the performance or knowledge of the employees or workforce or a company.  It is very easy to learn; it’s a regular course to improve communication skills and is useful information to help aid communication.  It is not a very hard training course therefore some staff may find it hard to communicate if they don't know BSL or Makaton, etc.