Good Relationships with Relatives and Visitors

As a health and social care practitioner, you will likely interact with relatives and visitors on a regular basis. This aspect of your role can be very rewarding and offer insights into the life history, needs, and preferences of the individuals you support but it can also be challenging at times. This short course will help you to understand what family members and friends are experiencing when visiting someone they care about in a health and social care setting and how this can have an effect on behaviour and mood. The course will suggest ways in which you can support the individual during a visit, and also make the experience a positive one for their family and friends.

Learning outcomes

You will be able to emphasise with relatives and visitors and know how to reassure them and make the experience as fulfilling as possible
Relatives, as well as residents, have rights under current regulations which care providers must comply with. You will understand these rights and know how to comply with them.
You will be able to work in partnership with families and understand the importance of including families in care planning

Advantages of this course

This short course considers the ‘big issues’ in health and social care settings, such as intimacy, illness and accidents, and death and dying. Upon completion of the course, you will understand the importance of privacy and physical contact to residents and their loved ones in a care setting, be able to share details of illness and accidents openly and honestly, and know how to support the relatives of someone who is dying and bring comfort to someone who has just lost a family member or friend at the setting
Website and video resources are utilised to explain the information further
There is also suggested extended reading that gives both practical information and links to websites to expand knowledge