OCCUPATIONS IN THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SYSTEM By (Name)     The Name of the Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The Date                     Contents Introduction. 3 Purpose. 3 Context. 3 Objectives. 4 Range of occupations within health and social care. 4 Healthcare manager. 4 Pharmacist. 4 Physician. 5 Nurse. 5 Methodology. 5 Brief overview of typical hierarchy within health and social care. 5 Figure1: Health care structure. 6 Conclusions. 7 Recommendations. 7 Bibliography. 7 Appendices. 8              

Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to understand different occupations within the health and social care sector; with the main aim of developing research skills in researching careers. The study also aims at understanding the functions of the various occupations in the health sector.   A hierarchy within the social and health care sectors will be presented with roles and responsibilities highlighted as the main advantages. The study also highlights the structure of healthcare sector; in relation to the main occupations, hierarchy within it and the importance of the hierarchy.

Context

There are various occupations in the health and social network, such as: health managers, nurses, doctors ,paramedics, dentist, nutritionists, herbalist etc. (“Types of jobs: Healthcare | Prospects.ac.uk,” 2000, 2.). These occupations perform different specialized roles; specialization in the health sector creates experts that are indispensable in their areas. The different specialized groups form a closely neat network of professionals that depend on one another; for example, doctors can hardly perform their duties without a nurse. Healthcare system comprises different sectors and functions such as: providing diagnostic services, healing and prevention services, and rehabilitation(“Careers in Healthcare, Medical & Pharmaceuticals - Salary Guide and Career Advice - Open Universities Australia,” 2015, 1.). Both health and social care consist of management system that act as a watchdog for all of its different sectors. Both consist different occupations such that they are all organized in a way that they work as unit. This creates a need to have an organized management system that controls all the different occupations and their activities. The management is organized in hierarchical manner. Focus for this study was mainly in the health sector.

Objectives

1. To list the range of occupations in the health and social care systems,
2. To demonstrate research skills in researching careers.
3.  To present the hierarchy within health and social care.
4.  To elucidate the importance of a hierarchy in terms of roles and responsibilities.

 

Range of Occupations within Health and Social Care

Healthcare Manager This occupation involves managing workers working with other people in the sector, to achieve its desired objectives. Healthcare managers include: supervisors, coordinators and directors. These are people who are responsible for the daily operations in the sector. Some functions of the health managers include: planning, organisation, staffing, controlling (monitoring staff activities and performance), and directing (initiating action in the organisation)(Organization, 2000). They spend a lot of their time; communicating, solving problems, collaborating with other occupations and making decisions regarding the sector. To provide quality health care and get profits, hospitals must be managed in order for everything to work smoothly; this is where a health manager comes in; he carries out administrative tasks such as: budgeting, human resource and maintaining supplies. Healthcare managers are supposed to provide an environment conducive for the provision of quality health care services and enable the hospitals to maximise on profits. They do this by making sure there is a constant supply of medicine, ensure that nurses and other health workers report to work and provide quality health services. They make decisions regarding the financial and managerial aspects of hospitals. Pharmacist Some of the functions of a pharmacist are: pharmacokinetic dosing, therapeutic monitoring, and providing information on drugs (Hepler and Strand, 1990). We can claim that they are the custodians of drugs-providing information and developing new drugs. According to Hepler and Strand (1990, 28) their main functions in the healthcare system is clinical. If there is a profession that is highly coveted in the medical practice, is the position of a pharmacist. They perform a vital role in the provision of medication to patients; in some instances they are also involved in research on drugs. Their main responsibilities include: supply of medication drugs, carefully checking how the patients are responding to medication- in order to maximise their response to drugs and improve their chances of healing, educate the general public on over-the-counter drugs and prescriptions from medical doctors. As I mentioned earlier, they are the custodians of drugs; they make sure the medical drugs are pure and not contaminated, ensure the drugs being distributed to the public have not expired and they are not harmful in any way.  

Physician

The main functions of a physician are diagnosing and treatment (Bates, 1970). They usually check patients and diagnose various ailments and prescribe treatment. In most hospitals, it’s the physician who deals with patients directly. His main role is analysing the history of the patient’s illness and determining the most likely diagnosis for the treatment. He is usually trained to guide and provide the patients overall health status.   Physician’s roles can be divided into five classes: taking medical history of the patients and carries out a physical examination, providing nonstop care to patients in the hospital and in an ambulance, usually works with medical teams to provide healthcare services, he advices the support team, family of the sick person and patients, on the condition of the patients, diagnosis and treatment, he assist patients get the best services from the healthcare system. In a nut shell, the physician aids patients in getting treatment in hospitals for various illnesses.

Nurse

Nurses are usually care givers and work hand in hand with physicians and medical doctors(Bates, 1970). They administer medication and check on the progress of the patients. Nurses don’t diagnose but they act on doctors instructions to take care of patients accordingly. Most people view a nurse as that lady with a: white coat, a file and may likely give you a jab or force you to take medication as prescribed by the doctor, but a deeper look into the roles of a nurse would reveal that she/he might be more than you bargained for. One of the main functions of a nurse is giving care to patients. Careering of patients means provision of hands-on care of just assisting the patients to get better: by providing the patients with medical skills and knowledge for their well-being. In some cases nurses are known to provide wholesome support, which includes: psychosocial, developmental, cultural and spiritual. Nursing as profession calls for dedication to patient service. Some people might want to compare it to a spiritual duty or a calling. Nurse are skilled decision makers: most of the time their occupations for quick decision making and set goals. Some of the skills include but are not limited to: evaluation of a patient’s health conditions and identifying the patient’s problem, also involved in the preparation and execution of intervention in relation to the patient. Nurses are skilful communicators; they communicate with the patient and also their families, in relation to the health of the patient. She/he communicate through writing or direct conversations with the patient. Methodology This was a descriptive study of various occupations in the health sector; which was conducted via the internet. Reliable sources such as Google scholar were used. Various occupations in the health sector were studied in details; in relation to their roles as health workers The structure of the health sector was also studied in details using sources from the internet and relevant findings reported inform of a hierarchy. Different occupations within the health sector were presented in the hierarchy. Microsoft word was used to draw the hierarchy. A brief description of the various occupations were described as presented in the hierarchy, from the Minister of Health to the practitioners. Their roles and functions described in details; depicting their most important functions and relevance in the sector.    

Brief Overview of Typical Hierarchy within Health and Social Care

Between the Ministers of health, the ministry of health and district health boards, there is funding agreement and accountability. Between Maori...