This fully updated and revised edition of Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners is a practical and comprehensive text designed to equip you with the necessary clinical skills for your profession.

Foreword Introduction 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. Health Promotion: The Key Messages 9. Keeping It Clean: Hand Decontamination 10. Chaperoning Section III: Core Skills 11. Physiological Measurements 12. Understanding and Measuring Blood Pressure Accurately 13. Understanding the Heart: How to Perform the Electrocardiograph (ECG) 14. Venepuncture and Capillary Blood Testing: Best Practice 15. Kidney Function and Urine: Performing Accurate Urinalysis Section IV: More Advanced Skills 16. Examining the Feet of People With Diabetes 17. The Skin and the Healing Process: Basic Wound Care 18. Understanding Lung Function and Disease: Performing Accurate Lung Function Testing 19. The Role of the HCA in Administering Immunisations and the B12 Injection 20. Ear Examination and Irrigation Glossary References Index