Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants

Zoë Rawles BN BSc (Hons) Retired Lecturer/Nurse Practitioner and Director of HealthTrain.

Section I: All change, 1 The evolving role of the healthcare assistant, Section II: Some useful stuff, 2 Understanding reflective practice, 3 Accountability and delegation, 4 Using protocols, 5 Communicating with patients, 6 Simple assertiveness skills, 7 Confidentiality, consent and record-keeping, 8 Safeguarding, 9 Health promotion: the key messages, 10 Keeping it clean: hand decontamination, 11 Chaperoning, Section III: Core skills, 12 Physiological measurements, 13 Understanding and measuring blood pressure accurately, 14 Understanding the heart: how to perform the electrocardiograph (ECG), 15 Venepuncture and capillary blood testing: best practice, 16 Kidney function and urine: performing accurate urinalysis, Section IV: More advanced skills, 17 Examining the feet of people with diabetes, 18 The skin and the healing process. basic wound care, 19 Understanding lung function and disease: performing accurate lung function testing, 20 Administering injections, 21 Ear irrigation