1 – Unit 6 – Personal and Professional Development in the Health and Social Care Sector

1.1 Outline careers and job roles in health and social care.

Health and social care encompasses a variety of career paths, ranging from caring for people with medical needs to providing psychological support services. In the UK, the NHS usually employs health workers, while social care workers will often find jobs across private-sector organisations and public ones like local councils or charities (Johnston & Keithly, 2018).

Typical roles within this sector include nurses, midwives, paramedics/emergency medical technicians (EMTs), doctors, therapists such as occupational or speech-language pathologists; home health aides; pharmacists; dentists; dieticians; and radiographers.

Care Work: Care workers are responsible for helping vulnerable people with their everyday tasks. These can include providing emotional and social support, physical care such as help with dressing or bathing, assisting in daily errands like shopping, offering therapeutic activities to improve mental well-being and encouraging engagement in the community (Gervasio et al., 2017).

Social Work: Social work focuses on improving the lives of those who have experienced various personal difficulties, including poverty, violence, abuse, etc. (Kelton, 2018). It involves working closely with these clients helping make decisions about legal matters, and aid access to financial resources that they need.

Support Work: Support workers are responsible for helping vulnerable people in various settings, such as supported living arrangements, respite and community care. They provide practical support to help individuals live independently; assist with shopping tasks or engaging in social activities (McShane et al., 2017).

Nursing: Nursing can involve a wide range of roles, from treating wounds, administering medication and injections to educating patients about preventive healthcare, responding to medical emergencies or providing emotional support for those dealing with severe illness (Hannigan et al., 2018).

Other answers in the full document:

• 1.2 Explain progression within a chosen health and social care career area.
• 1.3 Analyse skills and knowledge required for a specific health and social care role.
• 2.1 Identify standards relating to professional development in health and social care.
• 2.2 Assess the need for continuing professional development in health and social care.
• 3.1 Explain what is meant by reflective practice.
• 3.2 Explain theoretical models of reflective practice.
• 3.3 Analyse the impact of own attitudes, values and beliefs on the provision and practice of care.
• 3.4 Reflect on own learning.
• 4.1 Outline the stages in planning own personal and professional development.
• 4.2 Explain how to identify development needs.
• 4.3 Explain how to write SMART targets for own personal development.
• 4.4 Create own personal development plan for a chosen career role.