You may be interested in becoming or already working as a support worker. If so, you might want to learn skills that will help you better provide care for patients and understand their needs. You may be able to create specific goals or pursue specific actions after learning about these skills.
What Is The Role of a Support Worker?
Support workers have a wide range of responsibilities, since they work in teams to care for a variety of people. The tasks of a support worker may include:
- Helping with personal hygiene, dressing and grooming
- Cooking for Patients
- Laundry and cleaning
- Monitoring medication needs
- Light housekeeping tasks, including dusting, vacuuming, and window cleaning
- Supporting patients emotionally and helping them to cope with their condition
- First aid and CPR
Support Worker Skills: 10 Examples.
These 10 examples of skills for Support Workers in Adelaide will help you to improve your own.
1. Assessing individual care needs.
You may find it important to evaluate the needs of each patient in their current situation as a support worker, whether you work in mental health or social services. In order to meet individual needs, you may want to study the differences in physical, cognitive and social care. You can help your patient live independently by identifying their needs.
2. Physical care.
As a support worker you can provide physical care for individuals. You may be able to recognize the physical needs of specific illnesses or injuries. You may also be able to move patients who cannot move themselves, and administer medication or first aid. Completing a healthcare support course is a common way to develop this skill. You can pursue a certification in integrated healthcare or in health support work.
3. Perform health assessments.
The assessment of healthcare needs can be complex, requiring knowledge of medical technology and data collection techniques.
communication skills
Personal awareness. As a support worker you can work with a team to develop your health assessment skills. You can learn how to assess people’s ability to move, their coordination or visual-motor skills.
4. Supporting personal development.
Support workers can support the personal development of individuals by providing them with resources, activities and coaching to improve their skills or find employment in a particular field. Assisting self-directed learners through training or supervision is one way to facilitate personal development. Many support workers create specific goals that they want their patients to achieve.
5. Supporting education.
You can develop your educational support skills by staying up-to-date with the latest research on different methods to help individuals achieve their educational goals. You can also set specific educational goals with your patients. For example, you could help them improve their comprehension or test abilities. You can help a person with ADHD set goals that require them to focus on certain educational tasks for a specific amount of time.
6. Cooking.
Support workers are often required to prepare healthy and nutritious meals for those they support. You can take a class to improve your cooking abilities. You can also research the nutritional requirements of people with certain conditions such as Crohn’s or gastroenteritis.
7. First Aid: How to administer it.
Support workers are often able to perform CPR and treat minor injuries such as cuts and bruises on people who are unconscious or have stopped breathing. Some may have specific skills for dealing with different types of emergencies. You can attend a CPR, EMT, or first-aid course to develop these skills.
8. Treatment of chronic diseases.
Support workers are often able to create care plans that are tailored for people with chronic illnesses. You can learn how to help people deal with emotional or physical pain by learning techniques such as anxiety management, stress management, and pain management. You can also develop a plan to review progress and conduct follow-ups with caregivers.
9. Effective communication.
They have developed interpersonal communication skills which help them to communicate effectively with a wide range of patients. Support workers may decide the best way to communicate with each patient, whether it is written, verbal, or visual. You can attend lectures on enhancing communication skills to develop these skills. nonverbal communication Communication of thoughts, feelings and wishes.
10. Time management and organization is important.
Organization is a tool that many support workers use. time management skills To efficiently complete certain tasks or care for multiple patients in a day. Setting specific goals to accomplish tasks in a set amount of time is one of the most effective ways of managing your time. You can also use a daily planner, calendar or software for time management.
How to Become a Support Worker.
Tips for becoming a good support worker
- When considering different specializations: Support workers develop their knowledge in psychology, sociology and human services. Specializations include speech-language pathology or occupational therapy.
- Research job opportunities: You can learn more about the duties of different support positions by researching job opportunities. You could attend an informational session or talk to the owner of a business that employs support workers.
- You can pursue job-specific courses: These may include classroom training, training and placements. Placements allow you to put your new skills into practice and can also be useful in future job applications.