Competences of this course
Competences include understanding professional interaction which has been taught to us from the beginning of the school year. Ethics, values and legislation are well know by now. This course has been teaching us new things around these subjects. But we must say that we have known the basics if these subjects already. Example we have know the importance to the customers rights and expertise of their own life. How customer from different cultures have different view and habits. We as workers won’t be able to choose our customers and have to treat every customer equally.
Social media in social and health care
We acknowledged the information security in social media before. How you need to keep your own and your clients private information away from social media. When you have customer relationship you need to remember not to follow or accept follow requests from your patients. The benefits of social media are easy access to new research, guiding patients to right services and easy communication between people. Everything you write or publish in social media can not be permanently deleted.
We learned that you can’t speak enough of information security and you know how to use social media. It’s important to recognize the benefits and disadvantages of using social media in work field. Example you can not publish the names of your customers or talk about their situation. Also it may negatively impact the public view of the trustworthiness of profession.
Criteria of service
Every patient is individual. Customers have their self-determination and right to know every little aspect of their treatment. Treatment should be available to everyone who needs it. You can’t choose your patients. Best treatment is received at the right time and place. Our job mainly is seeking to maximize well being and health. Also minimize the risks. Everybody has the right to be treated with respect.
We think that we don’t talk enough of the adverse effects and risk of the treatments and medication. Also we learned about patient ombudsman. How you can and should complain about mistreatment and the patient ombudsman helps with the complain. Patient or patients close relatives can make the complain or you can also just ask about the rights from the patient ombudsman. Nurse needs to support the patient who has been mistreated in healthcare. We think as nurse and social worker you need to know the patients rights.
Ethics
We have been learning about ethics from the start of elementary school. So this subject is quite familiar to us. Service need assessment has been taught to us recently. You tell the customer their rights and tell their choices of service. Doing this you have to respect the customer right to self-determination, take in to account their thoughts and opinions. You have to especially respect the children and special needing persons self-determination.
We learned that people forget what you have said, but not the feeling they felt around you. Personality is your best work tool, but you have to consider how you use it. What we also learned that education shape your values and morals and they keep shaping and stabilize through your life time. In every job the professional ethics are different. How much you can bend the laws by thinking and doing what is ethically right. This subject is rather big and we will be learning new things in the future around this subject.
Customership and professional dialogue
Customers have their self-determination and power to decide what’s best for them. Our service is guidance for them they can choose to follow or not follow our decisions. Confidence is the key to every customership. First meeting is always the most important to built the trust to the customer and see if they work for each other well. For the customer would also be best if the workers turnover would be minimized. Meaning they would have to always built trust and bond to the new worker all over again.
Professional dialogue includes listening from both sides, equal participating and quest to understanding. Social workers should give the customer the chance to think the solutions and not give them straight answers what to do. We can give guidance to the customer so they can find the solution what is best for them. Because every customer is individual and something that works for other doesn’t necessarily work for them. Professional should not raise them above the customer just because they have the education. Customers always knows themselves best.
We learned how to be great listeners and what not to do in professional meeting with the customer. Example to listen and show the customer that you are listening. Not to keep head town or to watch just the computer screen. We don’t interrupt the customer or change the subject. We should ask proper questions relating to the customers matter. Face the customer as equal and keep your mind open. If the customer have strong opinions or emotions we shouldn’t take it personal.
Cultural communication
Every culture is different. The way we handle our daily lives differs in every culture. You have to learn about different them so you know how to behave and treat people equally. People who come as refugees to other country may have hard time to adapt to other culture when their culture is completely different. The issue is also communication in the new country. Learning a whole new language and trying to speak it when example Finnish persons may easily give in to speak english than help the other person to learn finnish language. Adapting to the weather is may be issue as well.
We learned that everyone sees other and their own culture differently like example Finland is the worlds happiest country, but if you ask the Finnish people they may not think so. Also there are same things and issues every country and culture example how older people are treated. The issue of ageism is seen in every country and almost every time it’s practiced by younger people. We learned that the family dynamics change when moving to other country where is different culture according to the relationships of own family.
Professional growth
We have known that you learn through your life time. Learning doesn’t stop when you graduate from school. What effects to professional growth is familiar to us. Example your coworkers helps, being confident about your own doing and positive work environment.
We have learned about the novice expert model. We have thought that there are the beginner and the expert of knowledge. Now we know that there are different knowledge like advanced beginner, competent and proficient. Knowing this helps us to locate ourselves from this model of professional growth. Also you don’t necessarily go in this order, you can jump from beginner to competent and skip advanced beginner.
Digitalization
Digitalization happens really fast and we can’t help it. This may exclude some customers like elderly people who don’t have the education to use the services which are constantly upgrading and changing through to digitalization. We knew digitalization may be challenging to most elderly people because they don’t have the education, live in the countryside or are out of working life.
We learned the pros and cons of digitalization. Pros are that it is cost efficient, it creates more possibilities like communication via computer. It brings more accessible services to customers. Cons are constantly upgrading and changing sites and services. We as workers and customers constantly have to learn how to use them and it can be exhausting. It can take away human interaction because you can take care of almost everything in internet. Digitalization takes away jobs.
Written by Nora Kekkonen and Jonna Hakala