Understand the role of the social care worker Essay Example for Free

Understand the role of the social care worker Essay A working relationship is professional based. It is made around a companies contracts, policies and procedures. A person would have a working relationship with their managers, colleagues, other health professionals and their patients. Within a nursing home a social workers working relationship with a patient is one based on care and support. It is to help somebody with their everyday living and where it is best for them to be. There are different boundaries in a working relationship both parties must be strictly professional at all times. A social worker should not exchange their personal information with a patient and they must follow all the companies policies and procedures. A personal relationship is more emotional and intimately based. A personal relationship is what a person has with their family and their friends. It is formed through the choice of two people, it is made through shared interests and likes. A person is free to express how they feel about another individual and voice their opinions in a personal relationship. In a personal relationship both people are involved in deciding whether they want that relationship or not. In health and social care settings there are many different working relationships. When approaching a doctor or other medical professional the relationship will always be professional and formal because it is concerning the patients well being and all information needs to be passed on correctly. A relationship with a patient and their family may be more informal if a social worker has worked with them closely for a long time, although a relationship with them should always stay professional. If they are working with and seeing somebody on a daily basis both parties do develop a closer relationship. The relationship between a person with their colleagues and their manager would also be different, even though both relationships must stay professional somebody would address their manager different to how they would a colleague. All relationships are different but in the workplace they  should always remain professional. Understand the important of working in ways that are agreed with the employer. It is important to adhere to the agreed scope of the given job role because it enables the worker to know their roles and responsibilities. It sets out boundaries for the worker for their own job role. Without knowing their job role they may do things they are not trained to do or other workers may take advantage and get them to do jobs they are not meant to be doing. By knowing the correct job role a worker can improve their skills so they better themselves at that job. It means they will be working towards becoming a better carer, if they know what they are meant to be achieving. Agreed ways of working is to work to the set rules given by your employer or by law. These are usually in the form of policies and procedures, when starting work every employer should read their companies polices and procedures. They are also usually on staff notice boards as well. Staff members can have access to the policies and procedures when ever needed. It is important to have up-to-date details of agreed ways of working because the law may have changed so the policies and procedures would need to be updated to fit in with these. The laws would change to protect vulnerable people or if something has gone wrong. They must be followed so that everyone works to the same guidelines rather than how they want to because if they done that everything would become chaotic. The may also be breaking the law if they are not following the policies and procedures. Understand the importance of working in partnership with others. It important for a social worker to work in partnership with others these include carers, family, friends, doctors, physiotherapists etc. because then specific problems can be addressed such as mobility problems with the physiotherapists, illnesses with the doctors. Without working together a solution would not be made as quickly and easily as possible for the patient. If they are unable to make decision for themselves all those involved in the patients care should help to decide on the best thing for  them, this could be where they should live or what is the best form of medication. They are different ways of working to help improve working in a partnership such as recording all information so that it is easy to access for all the parties involved. The information should be clear and very informative, it needs to be accurate about the patient. All the partnerships should regularly meet or communicate so that everyone involved is up-to-date and all the necessary information is being shared. When resolving conflicts a social worker should always remain calm, level headed and unbiased. If a conflict does arise the social worker needs to show understanding and empathy to both parties and show that they are listening. They should not let their personal opinions or judgements affect what they do or say. To try and diffuse any situation the social worker should give both sides a chance to express their feelings and opinions. If the conflict can not be resolved on that day then a time should be set to resolve it, people may be calmer the second time. If a social worker is finding it hard to resolve a conflict after trying all the solutions they can think of they should ask for help. This could be from a colleague, they may have been in a similar situation before so have very valuable experience. A supervisor or line manager they would be able to give professional advice and again may have experienced this before so would have valuable advice, they would also be more experienced in having to make confident decisions. Agencies such as CQC, social services and support agencies would always be able to either give useful numbers and websites to use or give advice to help solve the situation.