Healthcare Support Worker Flashcards
Brief summary of cover letter
patient services admin:
- training other staff
- safeguarding responsibilities
- psychosocial approach to blind patient care (example of taking role further to aid mental health)
education:
- MCI case study - consideration of family and mock-up of a treatment plan
- reinforced the importance of multi-disciplinary care to treat mental health
personal experience of mental health:
- aiding the treatment of MH within secondary care a primary motivation
what does the Leadenhall Ward Functional Assessment Centre offer?
An assessment ward for service users with functional mental illnesses. The service offers:
- 24 hour, 365 days a year services
- Active involvement of the patient, family and carers
- Choice and autonomy, where possible
- Intensive assessment, intervention and support
- Recovery planning with patient focussed outcomes
- Sensitive approach to ethnic and cultural issues
- Share learning from the crisis
- Time-limited treatments that are responsive to patient’s needs
- To provide practical support and assistance with problems of daily living
mental health campaigns championed by East London NHS Foundation Trust?
see the signs, save a life
heads up - 30-59 y/o males
all on board - in partnership with network rail to train staff to prevent suicide by trains
rainbowbedfordshire - loneliness stigma
befriending service - to help combat loneliness by pairing a service users over the phone with a ‘befriender’
men’s health week for ELFT staff members
what is Millharbour Ward (tower hamlets)
PICU - psychiatric intensive care unit
beds for 14 men
where would i be working?
there are 7 mental health wards in mile end hospital and 1 at east ham (both under the ‘tower hamlets’ directorate)
both adult and older adult wards e.g millharbour ward for men and leadenhall ward for older adults
aim to provide acute and all-round inpatient care ‘short and focused admissions’ for people experiencing severe mental health difficulties and a MH crisis within hospital
24/7 7 days a week
brief elevator pitch i.e ‘tell us something about yourself’ / ‘tell us why you are suited to this role’
- interest in sport and psychology / neuropathology and mental health since teaching autistic children to play hockey in secondary school
undergrad in psychology with sport science from exeter
- worked in primary care as administrator with daily patient-facing experience
- esp. during covid clinics experienced the feeling of wanting to influence clinical assessment and treatment decisions and outcomes
masters in Applied neuropsychology from bristol
keen to apply educational background & administrative background in healthcare in secondary/tertiary care setting with a grounding in mental health under a MDT with specialised mental health professionals
describe a time when you had to deal with a challenging situation?
at the gp
patient who regularly got very angry and incomprehensible and threatening on the phone
multiple calls one day, i received them all, with px and wife demanding to speak to his doctor who was fully booked all day
‘you will be responsible for my death’ ‘you want me to die’
remained calm, IMing the doctor and practice manager throughout, keeping the patient on the line long enough to pass them across multiple times to the doctor and also transcribing every conversation for reference
was offered for a senior member to take over but trusted personal capability and relaying of info
phoned back the next day along with his wife to apologise & praised by practice manager for handling of the situation - and amended patient notes to document the whole situation
describe a time when you have ‘put the patient first’ / focused on a ‘patient-centred approach’?
2x
- under pressure -
* important MH meds not available for px in their pharmacy, between calls i rang alternative pharmacies, as well as advising the patient to do so, to find where it was in stock
* called original pharmacy to send prescription back and re-sent, within the space of 2 hours on a busy afternoon
* px submitted a named positive review of myself
- special consideration of MH and inclusion
- blind patient struggling with loneliness and low confidence continually mentioning offhand (not primary physical complaint) wanting a physical hobby
- conferred with the doctor about a charity-run community PA group and contacted whether could adjust for blind px
- confirmed with px and they began to attend to these sessions
- received personal praise from the doctor for the idea and finding and collaborating with the charity to help the px
experience of providing / receiving sensitive information?
made chief of safeguarding amongst admin staff
read, sensitively entered, and quickly actioned safeguarding documentation (chiefly from the police) by sending a summary and the priority level to the appropriate GP to action
acting and responding with compassion and empathy / understanding for caring for people with MH difficulties
at front desk dealing with a male who had received neurosurgery as a child and had multiple MH needs
did not hurry him or divert conversation away from his problems and instead asked other admin to open their ‘window’ for the front desk as phones were not busy
later helped him fill out a registration form due to learning difficulties
what experience do you have with mental health
most diverse area within cambridge with highest incidence of MH - esp. young single mothers and drug / alcohol dependencies
over the phone and in person
personal experience of family member with occasions talking them through an acute MH crisis & helping them seek treatment
tell us something / your basic understanding of mental health / something you found interesting at university
challenging the idea of treating mental health directly and actually focusing on symptoms as potentially causative e.g lack of sleep - looking at sorting this could have a beneficial effect
what qualities do you bring to this role? i.e why would we hire you for this role or why are you a good fit for this field
strong admin background in both research and primary care - solid understanding of the work going on in the background for documentation and relation between different care settings in nhs
- attention and appreciation of detail as a result
- pick apart the important aspects of a situation
willingness to learn and thriving being part of a team
- shown in dissertation group projects
- can appreciate the offer of strongly trained and advancing staff through learning
educational background understanding in mental health and treatment & experience in primary care so proven ability to work in challenging healthcare situations
what questions i should ask of them?
i noted on the website that ‘looking after our staff’ includes developing a highly skilled and maximally trained workforce with development opportunities
- what sort of training and advancement opportunities within this role could i expect within the first year of work
what could a day look like in this role? is there opportunity to move across the wards or will i be focused on one of them
how much collaboration will i have with the MDTs vs autonomy within the role
what is the shift pattern within this role and is it flexible
what do i know about the people interviewing me?
alan clarke (lead matron)
mitchell modja (clinical nurse manager)
temitope olawale (clinical nurse manager)
any important things on the website which help with questions re patient treatment or situational
use of force only when neccessary following attempted persuasive talking to patients
speak up when an issue arises - do not assume it is known about
info about ELFT
over 6500 permanent staff members
unit named a WHO collaborating centre in 2012 as recognition of contribution to mental health research
have community, crisis and in patient mental health teams - over 120 sites and 900 general and specialist inpatient beds
provides these services to over 1.8 million people
IAPT = improving access to psychological therapies
tower hamlets talking therapies services in collaboration with MIND
tower hamlets E1 unit and PM shortlisted for NEL workforce awards 2023 for contribution to healthcare
‘people participation’ = allowing trust users to have their say on how it should be run
what are the values of ELFT and what are examples that i have demonstrated of these
we care
- going the extra mile to ensure px’s prescriptions delivered on time
we respect
- not pressing an individual over the phone or in person when they are clearly uncomfortable voicing their difficulty to me - instead gaining as much information without being intrusive to best aid the doctors understanding prior to the appointment
we are inclusive
- blind patient and ensuring inclusivity whilst at the same time caring about their mental health
how could you directly improve a patient’s experience of care?
make sure i get to know what is important to them within their care
e.g general MH markers may be used to judge their progress such as a score on a questionnaire, but it may be being able to regain contact with a relative or talking about a certain experience that actually is meaningful to them
what is my understanding of the job role?
active in the assessment and care planning process
ensure patients are empowered within and understand therir care
part of the MDT making care plans
What are you most passionate about in this field?
being part of a multi-disciplinary team learning and acting under and within groups from multiple specialities to holistically help treat a patient
treating every patient as an individual in a completely unique set of circumstances with their own mental health story, progression and treatment options
brief overview of dissertations
undergrad
- whether ageing anxiety can be relieved or heightened through positively and negatively valenced educational videos
- over 300 ppts and completed majority of statistics and write up of them
postgrad
- the influence of exercise engagement and subjective/objective smartphone usage (displacement) on positive wellbeing & side note to understand motivations behind exercising and how influences wellbeing
- found marginal effects of amount of exercise engaged in and expected directions for subjective smartphone use (idea of more anxious then lower scores for both)
summary of several essays focused on MH from postgrad
how post concussion syndrome (after mild TBI specifically) can present same constellation of symptoms as PTSD & how to differentiate which is contributing to symptoms specifically
e.g confusion, both following tramatic events so experiencing memory lapses and hyperarousal, sleep disruption and anxiety
actually concluded that although may be difficult to differentiate, if treating the individual and the symptoms they present with then not the most clinically relevant question to give an official diagnosis
overview of masters course? what is neuropsychology? how can the masters course contribute to this job role?
had to present and formulate a real life presentation of mild cognitive impairment and using the background and research had to suggest differential diagnosis and treatment suggestions going forward
- appreciate of patient and family / friends
- appreciation of what is important to the patient personally
- importance of understanding their condition and treatment to motivate
development & rehabilitation module
- vocational
- family
- ACT and CBT and other talking therapies
- PBS importance of encouraging helpful behaviours rather than punishing ‘bad’ ones
