Unit 3 Health And Social Care P3

Research has various functions/ purposes. These are identifying needs, highlighting in provision, planning provision, informing policy or practice, extending knowledge and understanding, improving practice, aiding reflection, allowing progress to be monitored and finally examining topics of contemporary importance.

Every single health professional who is involved when care planning use different research principles to identify the needs of each individual they are looking after. For example at my placement which is at a Nursery the staff need to make sure that every child has exercise to keep their minds alert and to keep their bodies healthy. This could be by having 20 minutes outside for fresh air or a P.E session once every week. Also
by making sure that every child has a healthy diet in their lunch box will help them to keep fit and healthy. This will also help keep a routine going and encourage children to interact with each other, building relationships and confidence.

Highlighting gaps in provision is important in Health and Social Care as it helps work out the risks to individual’s health and lets them find a solution to these problems.
For example if there is risk of a child not getting the right nutrients or exercise and it is having a profound effect on their health then the professionals would need to assess the situation and try and find a solution.

Planning provisions of services is linked into my research project as hospitals, for example, are put in place for people to go if are injured or people who are not well. At the nursery if one of the children is asthmatic and is heavily breathing from too much exercise then they will need to use their inhaler but is serious they may need to be taken to hospital to make sure that everyone is okay. Forward planning and asking medical details would be required.

Informing policy and practise is another function of research. For example According to research older individuals stay healthy for longer if they remain in their own properties. Every health care expert and also the patients have a right to a say in the final decision made about their health. All policies should be open and available to the people involved. This links into my research because the children or in this case, as they are too young, their parents need to have a say in the individuals health routine. The children may also get a say depending on the situation. They need to make sure that they meet the needs of the
child by maybe not pushing them to hard if they have asthma etc.

Linking in with practice, research can be related with the individual’s needs , ensuring the quality of the care is high and trying to find ways to improve it, ensuring that resources in the nursery, for example, are used properly which in turn gets the best possible out of the children.
If there are specific problems that need to be addressed then this needs to be done immediately which in turn will decrease the chances of risks to the children, the staff or parents of the children. Improving the problems that may arise is extremely important and an example may include increasing the choices of activities the children are allowed to do or even. This links in with my research project as if one of the staff that is my room finds a specific problem about the nursery then they need to discuss this with the manager and find a solution to their problem. For example this could be that the children are not getting enough exercise and this could worry members of staff so something would need to be put in place to help improve the health and fitness of the young
children.

An important function of research is extending knowledge and understanding. This is important as when researching a specific topic you will find something from every angle of where you look. Research can collected and explore the different views of individuals. It is important when researching something that you understand what you hope to find out and what research is included. For example my research project is looking at my nursery and if it provides healthy routines and activities for the children.

Research can provide individuals with data which helps them to reflect. By planning obtained data, which can be used as research methodology, is increasingly likely to be more reliable than the information than data that is gathered through casual observations. During my research project I am observing one of the children so this links in well with aiding reflection. With the information that I have seen and gathered it will help me with bringing the research together and provide an outcome.

Monitoring the progress of something is important. This can be monitoring the progress of an individual who has had an accident and who in physiotherapy. This could also mean an individual who is battling cancer. They could have a scan which shows the cancer is decreasing inside of them which means that progress has been made in their recovery process. This could link into my research project as when I am observing one of the children I will hopefully get to see a progress in them joining in the PE lessons and showing them improving their fitness and their attitude towards it.

Examining topics of contemporary interest is important when linking into research as it shows more than one side to a specific topic. For example children who have learning difficulties go to a different school from mainstream schools. An argument that can come of this is that the children with learning difficulties are no different from the children who go to mainstream and they shouldn’t be treated any differently. On the other hand because the children who go to a different school need additional needs this is an argument for the schools not to join. A compromise from this as some of the children who have learning difficulties may go to the mainstream school and join in their lessons. This links in with my research project as the parents may not think the activities given to the children on a daily basis are enough to help them physically and to keep their brain fully alert but the staff may disagree and put up a strong argument.