"What do you know about Person Centred Care?"– It's a question that's on the lips of all the leading employers in Aged and Disability Care. For you, the Professional Carer, it means that the concept of Person Centred Care is something that you need to be well acquainted with, both in theory and in practice.
First and foremost, Person Centred Care is client focused meaning that all the carer's actions revolve around what is best for each individual person that they are looking after. It's a holistic approach to caring, with a focus on treating clients as human beings as opposed to a task.
Under this concept, the service is tailored to each individual, taking into account such things as: the culture and preferences of the people receiving care, as well as the service being provided in the most comfortable environment for them. This information can be sourced from interactions with the client or the client's family who are integral to delivering Person Centred Care effectively.
Employers in Aged and Disability Care are keen to move away from what is known as: Task-Based Care. This is where the service is provided in such a way that it forgoes the human element to caring for the client, and treats them as though they are just another task to be completed. It's an approach to health-care that is counter intuitive to providing the best quality care to clients.
Here's a simple scenario to highlight the difference between both approaches to providing health-care.
Sandra is a PCA working in a residential care facility. One of her jobs is to make sure that her 5 designated residents for the shift are all showered. Mrs Jones and Mr Sacamano like to have their showers in the morning as they like to start the day off fresh and clean. Ms Rajkovic and Mrs Papadopoulos prefer showers in the early evening just before dinner. Finally, Mr Lewandowski has a preference to be showered twice a day – in the morning and just before bed.
If Sandra takes the Person Centred approach, she will have known all of these preferences before engaging with each resident. She will have fit each of these shower times into her schedule so that each of them can have a shower at their preferred times. This approach has acknowledged that her clients have their own different needs and that providing them with a shower at their desired time will give them the most satisfaction.
On the other-hand, if Sandra attempts to complete this with a Task-Based approach, she will simply find a time where it's most convenient for her schedule to shower her clients. For example she may have an hour free after lunch and decide to shower all 5 residents in that block, despite the fact that none of them like being showered then. At the end of the day, the task was completed, but the desires of the resident were not taken into account at all.
As mentioned before, communication is paramount. Not just with the client, but with their family members and other staff members. This flow of information will help develop useful strategies that can prove beneficial in the provision of health-care.
It's also important to note that Person Centred Care is a partnership between carer and the person receiving the care. Getting to know each client is key to providing the best quality care possible. There needs to be an emphasis on engaging with the client and allowing them to contribute to decisions that relate to the care they receive.
Person Centred Care is an extremely important concept to understand if you are looking to get a job in Aged and Disability Care. Not in the least because it has now become a common question that employers will ask potential candidates in interviews.
Below are 3 sources that provide a wealth of information relating to Person Centred Care, and includes various strategies to help you become more person centred.
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