Caring Skill
Practitioner 2 (Care worker)
Observation
This involves collecting information, for a care worker this may mean ensuring that their clients are eating well e.g. (balanced diet) this means that the care worker will be constantly checking to make sure they sustain a healthy weight. If a care worker notices a client is looking unwell and don’t know the cause they may keep monitoring the clients temperature, and blood pressure in order to see any changes. If all that is fine and how it should be, then the care worker would then have to pass this information on to a nurse for further investigation (blood test, blood sugar etc.)
Social perception
A care worker at a day centre would be able to provide this caring skill by using factors such as facial expression, posture and tone of voice to perceive/ determine the mood their clients are in. Whether they are happy, sad, angry etc. and by finding this out the staff will be able to solve the problem if there is one to ensure they have psychological security. Usually if a client isn’t feeling well or doesn’t want to take part in activities they will show it using body language such as there posture e.g. ( how their stood, or how their sat in their wheel chair). If a care worker picks up any of these actions they will interpret them and try to find the root cause. For example if a client has a miserable look on their face and they no longer want to take part in activities then the care worker will go over to the client and ask them what is wrong, when the care worker asks what’s wrong the client can just tell them and the care worker can sort them out. However if the care worker doesn’t then the client may be upset for a couple of days which will ultimately lower her quality of life depending on what has made them upset.
Working alongside
Care workers can work alongside their clients to help them accomplish things on their own. Clients will usually doubt themselves about what they actually can and can’t do and they tend to not try because they have people who will do it for them. However if practitioners use the caring skill ‘working alongside’ to work in contact with their clients, one-to-one in an informal way, either by doing what they’re doing e.g. if the client doesn’t normally eat on their own they have someone to feed them usually then the care worker may try to use this caring skill to encourage the client to eat on their own. The care worker could do this by sitting next to the client and eating their dinner next to the client whilst the client is also eating their food. Or the care worker could simply work on something that will hopefully push out them out of their comfort zone for example the care worker could also use this caring skill by giving the clients constant encouragement for example, a practitioner may ask a client to try to get in their wheel chair from the chair all on their own. The care worker will give them encouragement so they are pushed to do it on their own but they will also be alongside them to give them support if need be.
Modelling

Physical Contact
This caring skill can be used to comfort a client who may be feeling anxious or upset (If a client has fallen over or has injured themselves.), as well as to show approval. This can be done by giving a rub on the shoulder of an upset client or maybe just giving them a pat on the back. An example of this in my chosen care setting would be if a client was to fall over and twist their wrist the care worker may touch it gently to make sure the injury is not serious e.g. (Sprained or broken)
Creating Trust

Gaining Compliance

Distraction
This caring skill can be used when a client is feeling anxious about something. This may be if the client is getting her dressing changed or if they are having an injection done. The care worker could distract the client by getting her to talk about herself, her family etc. This is a good way to distract her from the initial thing causing the anxiety.