SKILLS / TASK DEMONSTRATION REPORT 1

The task I have undertaken for the skills report was helping a child with clothing or general hygiene. She is a female student, aged 16. She has Spina Bifida. She is in a wheelchair. She is the youngest of two children. As she was in a wheelchair, the task I carried out was general hygiene / care needs. Before I accompanied the two Special Needs Assistants with this task, they firstly asked the student permission for me to help them. She had no problem with this. The most important thing I was told to remember is the health and safety of the student.

After watching and learning from the Special Needs Assistants they gave me a procedure sheet which I had to follow. My goal was to be able to change the student’s catheter tube. As this procedure is for care needs, the procedure was as follows:-
The student is taken for care during the class after lunch. It takes fifteen to twenty minutes.
You have to take her to the care room.
Firstly, transfer her from her wheelchair onto the electric bed.
Remove her shoes and trousers, and change her nappy and put on a fresh one.
Before removing the old nappy, drain the fluid from the catheter tube and dispose of.
Attach the new catheter tube onto the catheter bag.
Put the students clothes back on and transfer her back onto her wheelchair.
Make sure the student washes hands.
The Special Needs Assistant has to spray all surfaces before and after care.
The Special Needs Assistant has to make sure the student’s trolley is fully stocked and when running low, make sure the student’s parents are notified.
The equipment that is used is the electric bed, a catheter tube, disposal nappies and wipes.

The first thing I did when I got to the bathroom was wash my hands and put on gloves. I got her equipment out of the cupboard, as the bathroom is shared with a number of students, each student has their own compartment with their own equipment. I sprayed the bed with disinfectant before I put the student on it. I then lowered the bed so that the student could move from her wheelchair onto the bed. Once the bed was at the students’ level, she then moved herself onto the bed. When she was securely on the bed I raised the bed to my level to enable me change the student. I then removed her shoes and clothing. I attached the catheter tube to the bag and drained the urine in to the disposal nappy before removing it. I used baby wipes to give the student a wipe to freshen up. I put on a new fresh nappy. The student had no problem with communication, she told me that she liked the nappy very tight as she felt if it was loose it would fall off. I made sure it was tight. When her clothes and shoes were back on, I lowered the bed to allow her to get back into the wheelchair. The student then went to the sink to wash her hands. After she had finished washing her hands I wiped all the common areas such as the sink, taps, switches and doors. I then checked that her compartment in the cupboard was fully stocked.

My goal was to be able to change the student after watching and learning from the Special Needs Assistants. I felt that this task went well but that I would need a bit more practice on changing the catheter tube. The more practice I have on this I feel that I would get more confident. I know the student was happy with the task, as stated previously she had no communication difficulties and was able to tell me what way she likes things done, for example she told me to make sure the nappy was very tight as she likes it that way. The student advised me that she had her own soap that she likes to use and that she keeps it under the sink as she doesn’t want anyone else to use it.

I learnt that communication is very important between the Special Needs Assistant and the student and also with the parents as when the students stock is getting low they had to notify the parents. In this school I learnt that they use a communication