Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Now that I have come to the end of my placement i thought I’d do a summary of my main reflections from my time at placement.

1. I now feel happy and confident taking health screenings on my own, not only has this meant I’ve met my overall placement aim but achieved something which required me to push myself out of my comfort zone.

2. While my feedback to clients will continue to improve with more experience reflecting back from week one to week three I can see how much more not only fluent but to the point my feedback to clients has become.

3. My overall technique and confidence for when taking blood has increased. I’m not only able to do it quicker and usually within one attempt but I now don’t doubt that I’m doing it right or embarrassed when I occasionally do get it wrong.

4.  My overall knowledge around each area of testing has increased and I now know just about all the normative data off the top of my head without having to look at the booklet.

5. I have found a new area I enjoy doing and one which I would consider doing once I finish University.

6. I have learnt a furthermore insight into what its like to be a police  officer and why many of them end up turning to fast food due to not having any protected breaks. Thereby I can see how it is much harder for them to have healthy eating and exercise habits

 

Overall I can say that I have fully enjoyed my placement and the experiences and skills I have learnt from it have not only further extended my knowledge, understanding and confidence but also shown me some thing I enjoy doing.

 

Day 1

2 male police offerics were health screened (50 and 55). All the tests from to planand it was when it came to giving the feed back that the skills i’d learnt from all my oast health screenings were put to further use. While results such as cholestil weren’t to bad it was scores such as their visceral fat that were worring, with one having a level of 13 anf the other a 15 which while the scale is 1-50 levels 13-15 is the point where it starts to get worring and something needs to be done. Chris was there at the time so was able to help me give them  advise on what to do after i had feed them back the scores. As  i’m ony 19 i’m not always sure how much people take in when i give feedback, because while most seem to take it all on board some i feel are less likely to act on it because they’ve been told by someone whos still a teenager, while Chris dispte being 23 looks older (whih he says so himself) so i feel people may relate to him better and therefor be more willing or able to take advise from him.

I had some inttesting conversations with the two offers. One had presvously been in the navy which had caused his hearing to be damaged due the noise of gun shots, he also said that he use to play rugby and was on the bench for one of the amry vs navry game which is held at twickenham eahc year. This bit of information helped me keep up conversation more fluentlly as my dad who army also plays rugby so i was able to talk to them about rugby, army and navry.  Also as with two offericer from day 5 last week the two men also mentioned that they had been to an attempted suicide. The person had jumped off the tamr bridge but so how managed to surive although with very damangng injuryies when a boat fished him out of the water. It made me wonder how the officers must have been feeling throughout and what toll it can take on some ones mental health to not ony try and stop some from jumping but then seeing them still do it.

 

Day 3

3 people were health screened, one woman and two men. The woman wasn’t a police officer but one of the university staff who had booked in a health screening. She was natural a chatty person which help made it eciser for a fluent conversation to be upheld though the health screening. It was also nice to have a client who was a police officer as it gave me more of a challage to come up with topics of conversations , where as with the police ones I could start with the same topic which I knew would apply to all of them.

 

Day 4

Finally day of placesment. and we had a total of 8 officers come in. While it was another uneventful session it was the day I decided in my mind that I would like to carry on with the police health screening project. The day also gave me time between health screenings to reflect upon the placement and what I’ve managed to achieve during that period.  These reflections  I’ve written On the Placement reflection page.

 

 

 

DAY 1

3 Police officers (1 man, 2 woman) come in for health screenings. Chris let me take the lead and go through adminesting all of the tests and then presenting and going though the results with them. All went smoothly with the only slighlt hiccup being the blood analysis machine with measures cholesterol and blood golucose ran out of power so new batters had to be find to replace to old ones. This meant i had to repick and take a second sample from one of the woman officers as the first sample had coagulated thereby making it useless.  little occures like this remind me that while I may be much better at taking blood more practice is always helpful.  furthermore, what i also learnt was that potrol officers don’t have protected breaks and some times go a whole shift which can be around 10 hours without eating. which as they said themselves not paraticallt health or easy to create a health and regular eating patternts. This is also why many officers espeacially those on night shifts turn to fast food to keep them going.

Day 2

Today was my first ever session taking health screenings completely by myself and while ben (while runs the lab) was nearby if i needed help i was pretty much completely unsupervised. I felt nervous but ready and while the 2 police officers (both males) weren’t as chatty as i hoped they might be,  some of this maybe down to me needed to develop my conversation skills with clients.  I felt overall it was a successfully session. I was able to complete all the required tests quickly and fairly effectively, althouth when it came to testing the blood to measure cholesterol and blood glocose i pressed a wrong button on the machine and was unaware how  to adjust it back to the correct setting. Thankfully i knew there was a second decive availibale and where it was so was able to grab that and continue on the rest of the session with litte destruction occurring. Once completing all the tests, taking on what i had learnt from chirs giving feed and from information i already knew i felt i was successfully able to cover sufficient strant to the point feedback that told them what they wanted to know. Ben commented that my session didn’t last as long as Chris did which was good because it meant and from what he had seen that i hadn’t spend ages completing the tests or given feed back which can become boring and to much information to take in.

Some things i did go away and research after this session was the norm data for total, HDL and LDL cholesterol in addision to blood glocose and how much each is affected after eating or while being fasted.  While the norm data from total and HDL cholestol along with blood glocose are shown in the booklet the results are written down in which helps when given back feedback, i wanted to research the norms myself to help me remember them and not having to relie so much on the booklet.

Additionally in reflection back to the overall aim and objectives that was agreed for this placement ( refer to placement over view page) it seems could have set more ambitious targets.  While I’m always develop on the objectives which involves techquie as that comes with practise I’ve now meet my overall aim to be able to take health screenings by myself.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-magazine/medical/ask-the-experts/new-cholesterol-guidelines

https://www.benecol.co.uk/cholesterol/understanding-your-number

  Day 3

4 health screenings completed (all male officers)

learnt that when you open a new pot of  blood sample strips the blood anyaislc machine has to have a new memonry tab put into that links to the excat  set of strips, other wise it will come up with test error and not give any results. This happened on the 1st offier I took blood from meaning I had to prick him again and get another blood sample but now i know for next time so it shouldn’t happen again.

 

Day 4

Second session of health screenings competed on my own has two male officers can in (30 and 33). May have been because they were a bit chatter but I felt my conversations skills were sighly better these session then the previous one I did on my own.

 

Day 5

A total of 8 police officers were health screened during the session. Chris let me take the lead on all of them saying he was conftiable with me doing them all while he popped in and out of the room. While all the tests went smoothly exapct on the last pair of officers I for some reason though i’ve tested both the men’s blood pressurers when really i’d only done one, thankfully Chris was in the room at the time so remined me. Felt a little embarrassed but everyone just larghed about  it with chris saying it was down to it being the last pair of the day and been done much later in the day then usually so that got rid of the embarrassment. Today I learnt at lot more about the inside of what the police have to deal with and how they feel about it from both small things such everyone can laugh at to very serious and sad topics . Two of the 8 police officers who came in said they had spent a boring 6 hour on cell watch for someone who has taken drugs and was suspected to have more hiden inside of him so the had to wait until he went to the loo to find out. They also mentioned that these sort of jobs are not advertised in the job description and is they were less people would want to join which is an interesting thought and one which I supect is true. On the other side, 2 offerices talked to me about a girl not much older then myself who they’d been sent to last week when she  tried to commit suicide off the hoe. She survied but shattered her legs and pelvis. We got into a deep dissucion after that about how sad it is that people feel it is the only option and why there is more put there to help these people, especially when for this girl the orthorites knew she was high risk yet failed to act on it.  Overall all i can say that will i was happy with how everything went it was the conversations i has with the officers that really made me reflect on my life and how lucky I am. I also hope that girl from the help get the help she needs because being so young she has her whole life ahead of her.

 

OVERALL REFLECTIONS

• While some of the jobs the police do can they can joke about with, people forgot about the very serious  jobs they get sent to which can’t be joked about and must take an emotional toll on even on those who have been doing the job for years are more use to it.
• I’ve decided to carry on helping out with the health screenings as there are plently more that need doing and i’ve found i enjoy doing these health screenings. They’ve also helped me be pushed out of my comfort zone a bit more and helped improve my overall confidence

 

THINGS TO WORK/IMPROVE ON

• Contining to work on conversation skills with clients

 

REFERANCES

https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-magazine/medical/ask-the-experts/new-cholesterol-guidelines

https://www.benecol.co.uk/cholesterol/understanding-your-number

OVERVIEW –

Starting at the end of February I will be assisting  health professionals in completing health screening on 100  people from the police force, both from the office side and patrol side followed alone side office workers who work for a company called DELT. Once all the information has been collected it will be converted into graphs and given to the head of the police force and head of DELT to show the current health statues of their workers and if and what needs to be done to make improvements to improve health and physical activity levels. In addition to completing health screenings on the local police force I will been helping out with people from the general public who pay to come in for health screenings.

 

AIMS

My overall aim for this placement is to be able to or have taken a health screening by myself

OBJECTIVES

1.  Have learnt the proper and effective technique used to take and analysis blood

2.   Know all the normative data required e.g ideal blood glucose scale

3.   Be abkle to effectively feedback results to clients and police officers and be able to suggest ways of improvement if necessary

4.  Develop my conversation skills with clients

5,  Assist with the data collection of the results from the police officers in order for them to be developed into noramive data and graphs to assses the overall positives and improvements of the result  to be given to the head of the  police

*Disclamer*

This placement was carried out once a week for a number of weeks but has been condensed into 3 weeks to allow for easier reading.

 

Day 1

First day of placement – had 3 clients come for health screenings, one man (30) and 2 woman (47 and 56).  After a briefing from Chris on what  was going to happen I observed the first screening before assisting with taking blood pressure and body composition on one of the women. I also observed how everything was carried out and the order ( blood pressure first followed by body comp and finally taking bloods so that the blood doesn’t get on the body comp machine) in addition to how to conduct yourself and the way to feedback the information post screening.

 

Day 2

3 (woman) clients came In today for health screenings, myself and another assistant were allow to take the lead this time and complete all the assessments. I was in charge of taking blood pressure and blood samples.  Taking blood pressure went well with only a slight issue being one of the ladies having a top which was hard to roll up high enough above the elbow to put the blood pressure strap around her upper arm. The blood taking ititally I had a problem with as the papet that is used to take the blood was different to the one I’ve used it the past, so after pricking one woman I asked for  help and after being shown the different method I stabbed the woman again and  whiel it wasn’t any where near a quickly completed as Chris had done i was able to take the her blood sample and one of from the other woman.  One of the woman had really tough skin, which made the blood slow flowing and healed quickly making it hard to collect enough blood for a  large enough sample, so Chris our supervisor took hers in order to get enough blood out.

 

Day 3

The first hour was spend completing health screenings on 2 ladies, as there was 3 of us assisting and running the screenings we each agreed an allocated role. Mine was taking the blood samples.  The blood press and blood composition tests all went smoothly until I tied to take blood from one of the women. She had cold hands which would have been restricting the blood flow slightly but potenally down to my techquie or her being a natural slower bleeder I wasn’t able to get out enough blood for a sample quickly enough, meaning any blood collected coagulated making it useless. I pricked her fingers about 6 times and felt ebassised and confused as to how it had worked within a maxumum of 2 pricks with everyone else I had done but wasn’ t this time. After the 6^th try we got chris who was overseeing the whole thing to come in and do it, i observed while he made it look easy, proving with lots of practice that even the more difficult cases can be done quickly and effectively.  In the following hours we had 2 policeman come in in addition to a man and a woman who were part of the compantly checks. These screenings all went smoothly athough I didn’t take any blood samples from the remaining clients as i felt like that some people observation was required before I tried again.

 

Day 4

Today we had a total of 6 clients come in for health screenings (3 man and 3 women) . The first 3 worked for the police on the office based side, the third was a member of the public and the last 2 were patrol officers.  I was tasked with doing body composition for each of the 6 clients, which went smoothly. I have observed so far thoughout placement that when a clients height is taken some of them ask whether they need to face forward or backwards even though the measuring scale is the same as at the doctors so everyone at somepoint would have had it done. I did some research and also heared from Chris that this can be cause by white coat hypertension (Cobos, B et al, 2015) when clients are put into a lab environment which they aren’t use to and cause them to need intrustiongs for even simple tasks hwich they othersie would not need guidance with which can make simple things they wpuld otherwise not have to be told to do be som

 

Day 5

Today we had 8 police officers come in for health screenings. While Chris took everyones blood sample, I did blood pressure and body composition which then allowed chris to feed back each persons result while the other person was being tested. I would have liked to have done a few of the blood samples in order have more practice but Chris can take them quicker so it allowed us to finish each pair of officers that came in faster and mean Chris had time to write up the results on to his graphy and results table before the next pair of officers arrived. I was also asked today whether i would feel comtable taking on some health screenings on my own, in order to allow ben to offer the police another day to come in as Chris can only do fridays. I felt pleased that i had been asked becuases it showed me that they trusted me and felt i was good enough to be able to take them on my own.

 

OBSERVATIONS/ FURTHER KNOWLAGE

• Many people need to be told how to do the simplest tasks when in the lab. In some people this is called white coat syndrome and causes them to have an elevated blood pressure which is otherwise normal under non lab conditions (1).
• The police pay any fines they owe in the form of donuts
• The Middle finger bleeds the best and the putting a bit of pressure so a small indent is made and the best place to prick someones finger is to the side, half way between the middle of the finger tip and the nail

THINGS TO WORK/IMPROVE ON

• Blood sampling techquie
• Developing tequenic of feeding back of results and information

 

OVERALL REFLECTIONS

While I need to keep practicing my blood sampling technique and developing my way of giving people feed back,  i have assisted in health screening 24 clients most being police oficers but others offices and members of the public. Over the 24 health screenings i have learnt and obersivered a number of useful bit of infomation and techquies that I will attempt to use and put into use over the coming weeks, especially when I start taking health screenings myself.

 

REFERANCES

(1) Cobos, B., Haskard-Zolnierek , K. and Howard, K. (2015) white coat hypertension: improving the patient–health care practitioner relationship. Dovepress. Vol. 1, No. 1: 1-9. [Online] Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4427265/pdf/prbm-8-133.pdf

 

Professionals in the sports, physical activity and health sector need a variety of skills appropriate to the area in which they specialise.  Areas of expertise can be within several areas for example preventing health issues, recovering from operations/disease such as cancer or for general well-being, health promotions through nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle choice and interventions within the community encouraging health and activity.

Knowledge, expertise and experience are needed along with the confidence and ability to convey information and advice clearly to the client or audience in an engaging manner.  To be successful professionals need to be empathetic and listen to their clients in order to fully understand their needs, expectations and limitations. It is then expected that the individual tailors their approach with obtainable goals to suit the client and be adaptable and able to motivate even when the client has little enthusiasm to participate so that the client is more likely to reach their goals.

Similarly when promoting physical activity for health having knowledge, enthusiasm and awareness of the background research and evidence in the area being promoted is necessary in order to provide professional and up-to-date, accurate information.  Any observations of success professionals in this field will find that they have the ability to get the information over to people clearly and at the level they require, while being able to build and maintain the audience’s interest and enthusiasm on the topic which is being promoted. This is key to help ensuring future participation and success.

Individuals who choose to specialise or help out with people recovering from illnesses such as cancer or from injuries or operations need a great deal of empathy, flexibility and an ability to adapt to the client’s limitations. It must be remembered that each individual’s needs must be taken into account., These include key factors such as age, fitness level and abilities in order to make each program specific and tailored to each individual’s needs and goals.

Within each area of expertise there will be guidelines and recommendations on how to be professional and successful. For example according to the IDEA Fitness Journal “hand-on coaching skills” and “people skills” are required to assist in becoming a successful personal trainer. Many skills such as the ones mentioned above are useful across the different areas and these skills help enable the trainer or health professional to build up a more personal and understanding relationship with their client, whilst maintaining a professional environment. Therefore making it more likely to lead to success.  Quickly understanding and assessing what motivates the client is very important to enable the professional to keep them on track when their enthusiasm and motivation inevitably dips. Another important attribute is having the knowledge and expertise to understand what the client requires and how to deliver it to achieve the desired results.

Another important but often overlooked area within the sports, physical activity and health sector   is the  psychology of sports and exercise.  “Exercise and physical activity can be related to a participant’s self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy” (Fox, 1998). An understanding of sports psychology theories and concepts can help professionals to identify and understand the psychological reasons why people behave around physical activity.  For example, the theory of planned behaviour can help explain why some people do not participate in regular or any exercise (Conner and Norman, 2005) and can enable the professional to come up with strategies to overcome this psychological barrier.

Each area in the sports, physical activity and health sector requires the professional to “interact successfully with colleagues and other health workers” Dickson, D. (Ed.) (1997).  All the areas in the sector interrelate with each other in some way so an interaction between the areas allows for success across all the sectors.

 

References

Dickson, D. (Ed.) (1997) communication skills training for health rofessionals . (2nd ed.) UK: Nelson thones

Luka H (Ed.) (2016) Fitness Jounal . (1st ed.) US: IDEA.

Weinberg and Gould, . (Ed.) (2014) Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. (6th ed.) US: Human Kinetics.

Conner and Norman, (2005) Predicting Health Behaviour. (2nd ed.) England: Open University Press.