MOD005910 Health and Social Care Professional
INTRODUCTION
- Health and social care is explained as complex network of policies and actions within the different health & social care settings.
- The field emphasises on the care, support, health and well-being of the people and society.
- This presentation is based on the case scenario of Ms Rodriguez, a 52-year-old lady, who is suffering from the risks associated with the type 2 diabetes.
In this regard, the presentation will focus on roles and responsibility of nurse who is supervising diabetic patient. It will also discuss about the advantages and potential barriers of the inter-professional and multi-disciplinary working. The presentation will also describe the three ways to work efficiently in team by using relevant teamwork model.
MAIN BODY
Roles and responsibilities
In the context of Ms Rodriguez following roles and responsibilities will be carried out by the Diabetes Nurse:
- Primary role of nurse is to provide high quality care to the patients by handling their needs, treating health situations and preventing illness.
- Diabetes nurse usually conduct a physical exam at the beginning of patient’s visit.
- Nurse also performs the different diagnostic tests like checking blood, stool and urine samples.
- They maintain the health records of patient to make sure the proper treatment.
- Nurses oversee the treatment process and medications to patients under doctor’s order.
- They also help the senior doctors and physicians in drafting the treatment plans.
In physical examinations, nurses examine body temperature, heartbeat, blood pressure and weight. The physical test facilitates in giving update about the patient’s health. By collecting urine, blood and stool samples, they analyse the outcomes and share information with the medical team to ensure appropriate care.
Apart from the above responsibilities and roles, nurses play a crucial role in collecting information from assigned patients. They closely observe the diabetic patient so that they can understand the symptoms and related details. Nurses always provide their full support to the patient so that they cannot feel isolated (Alshammari et al, 2021). By showing empathy, nurse provides comfort and guidance during tough times. They equip with patients with coping skills and resources. Additionally, nurses utilise number of diagnostic tools to give patient care, including pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitor, stethoscopes etc.
Nurses educate their patient regarding medical conditions and give instructions on managing symptoms. It can involve scheduling follow-up, outlining recovery exercises and essential medication. Nurses also support the physicians with advanced procedures and offers emergency care to the patient who is suffering from the critical conditions (O'Flynn, 2022). Nurses efficiently communicate with the patients to understand their individual needs and use this information while providing treatment. Therefore, nurses play highly crucial role in the health and social care settings and contributes equally in the health and wellbeing of the patients.
Link to legal and regulatory frameworks
Nurses are accountable for complying with the legal and regulatory framework while conducting their duties. Patients fully trust to nurses and care givers so, it is essential for nurses to avoid any kind wrongdoings. There are some important legal and regulatory frameworks related to health and social care professionals.
Duty of Care:
- A duty of care is explained as duties placed on healthcare workers to act towards other people in a certain way.
- It is crucial for nurses to conduct their duties according to the certain standards.
- A newly qualified healthcare worker would be expected to provide safe care.
- When nurse or other healthcare worker fails to embrace duty of care, then it might lead lawful obligations.
In this case, it is the legal duty of diabetes nurse to provide safe care. Moreover, if they fail in conducting their work, patient may face serious problems (Wallace, Bhai and Hughes, 2025). Misdiagnosis or avoidance means a patient does not get proper treatment and it can make their condition worse.
The Code:
- It shows the professional principles that nurses, midwives along with nursing associations should uphold to be registered to practise in UK.
- It designed around four elements – maintain safety, prioritise people, promote reliance and professionalism and practise effectively.
- Nurses must comply with The Code while providing the best possible care to the Ms Rodriguez for enhancing their health outcomes.
It is crucial for nurse who is supervising Ms. Rodriguez to follow all the rules mentioned in The Code (Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2025). It provides new practitioners and care organisations with a helpful overview of the quality and standards regarding healthcare across UK.
Data Protection Act (2018):
- The act was developed by UK government to protect the private information of the people.
- It controls how personal information of people is utilised by authorised people and organisations.
- Each person is required to follow strict rules who is responsible for utilising private data.
In Ms Rodriguez case, it is essential for nurses and other professionals to follow strict guidelines. It is their duty to protect patient’s health and other information from unauthorised people (GOV.UK, 2025). Moreover, breach of data may impact the patient’s mental health and thereby affect their recovery process.
Inter-professional and multi-disciplinary team working
- Inter-professional team working refers to the process in which various healthcare workers with the diverse knowledge and skills collaborate to accomplish the shared goals.
- Multi-disciplinary team working means when professionals from the different background co-ordinate to accomplish the goals.
Advantages
Here are several advantages of the inter-professional team working:
- Improves patient care and results
- Reduces medical errors
- Lessens inefficiencies and costs
- Boost job satisfaction
When different healthcare professionals work with each other, they address patient health conditions in more fruitful way. Collaborative approach also helps in minimise errors and promote safety culture with reference to case of Type 2 diabetic patient. When professional’s team coordinate on patient’s treatment plan, unessential test and processes can be avoided and thereby diminishes the financial burdens and pressure on healthcare services (Zajac et al, 2021). By applying the latest communication technology, healthcare professionals can improve the workflow efficiency which further leads to greater job satisfaction.
There are numerous advantages of multi-disciplinary team working:
- Enables patients to access services from the different experts
- Offers more comprehensive care
- Improved patient satisfaction
- Cultivate the sense of support
When different professionals work together, it allows the patients to gain support from the variety of experts. In this case, when diabetes nurse, dietician, diabetes educator and endocrinologist will work together, it will benefit directly to Ms. Rodriguez. Through coordinating with each other, all professional will offer holistic approach to treat diabetes patient (Iliff et al, 2022). Further, multi-disciplinary team working ensures effective care plan by focusing on all aspects from diet to medications. It helps in enhancing the patient’s satisfaction which further contributes in the better treatment.
Disadvantages
Several potential barriers to inter-professional approach:
- Ineffective communication
- Confusion in the roles and responsibilities
- Power imbalances
- Ethical issues
In inter-professional approach, communication problems can happen from various factors such as; culture, personality, culture and language. Professionals may face confusion while using this team working method due to the lack of clarity about roles which might lead frustration and mistrust (Etherington et al, 2021). Power dynamics is the common problem which may impact the quality and fairness of interprofessional collaboration as professionals who work together and have different education, gender and job position. Ethical challenges happen when there are conflicting principles, interest and values between the team members.
Some possible barriers to multi-disciplinary approach:
- Scheduling issues
- Lack of training
- Communication barriers
- Resource limitations
Doctors and other professionals have their own work and very tight schedule. It can be possible that professionals are not available for discussion on time. Moreover, professionals with different background have different communication style, it can increase communication problems (Koohang et al, 2023). Further, the team may face the problem of resource limitations because multi-disciplinary team working will require extra resources. Lack of training of experts on how to effectively work collaboratively can create problems in team working.
Link to ethical principles
- Respect for diverse professionals
- Maintain transparency
- Focus on confidentiality
- Mutual decision-making
For this case, it is crucial for all team members who work together must show respect to each other. Although, all professionals belong to different occupation and culture, but it is duty of team members to respect diverse ideas and make decisions by mutual understanding. While making decisions, involve all group members including patient is essential to make unbiased decisions related to treatment and care plan (Koskinen et al, 2022). All members whether they are using inter-professional or multi-disciplinary team working should uphold the transparency so that it would not affect the patient outcomes and maintain professionalism. Upholding privacy of patient is crucial in health and social care field. Compliance with ethical guidelines, laws and regulations are crucial when professionals are working together to provide better care to the patient.
Effective ways to work effectively in group
For the preparation of MDT (multi-dimensional) group round table discussion I have worked effectively. I applied the Belbin’s team roles model in our group work. The model involves 9 team roles such as; implementer, monitor evaluator, resource investigator, shaper, plant, team worker, completer finisher, specialist and coordinator. Referring to Belbin’s team roles model, here I am going to explain three ways I have worked efficiently with my team members.
Plant: I played a role of plant in group work.
- A plant is always a though-oriented and acts as a creative thinker.
- While solve group activity, I always think innovative and creatively.
- I have identified the alternative solutions by using brainstorming method and evaluate my own ideas.
- I also evaluated advantages and disadvantages before sharing ideas to the other team members.
During group work, I also encouraged team members to think creatively and share their ideas and opinions to carry out the tasks. I always try to bring valuable output even I want work alone sometimes (Boone et al, 2022). During preparation of the round table discussion, I shared new perspectives and different solutions that could have assisted the group members approach MDT discussion in unique way. I always ensured that I used innovative approaches and different opinions instead of using old approaches. I realised by working in group that my innovativeness and creativity highly facilitated me to solve complex tasks and problems. Overall, innovative strategies and perspectives helped in enriching preparation for discussion.
Team worker: During group work, I also acted as team worker.
- The role of team worker is to provide support to the group members and improving synchronising in the group.
- Team worker considered as good listener and make sure that team dynamics remain positive and comprehensive.
- I as a responsible team member, always listen to the other person’s opinions and ideas and showed respect towards their different thinking.
I was contributed highly to establish trust among the team members which seems crucial for the round table meeting. It is obvious when people with different perspective and thinking work together, it creates conflicts. But I tried my best reduce conflict situations and made sure that all team members respected, valued and involved (Adamis et al, 2023). This approach helped to reduce disputes, particularly when there was situation of disagreement. I easily adapted to the changes in the work environment which help to carry out the work and other things easily. I acted as liable team member throughout the group work and worked well in team.
Coordinator: In team work, I also acted as a coordinator.
- Role of coordinator in group is to make sure that each team member is working efficiently through regular communication and setting clear goals.
- I always ensured team member including me do not hesitate to show our concerns and issues.
- I and my team members also distributed tasks and roles so that we can aware about what we need to do.
This team work was really important for me because I and my other team members were preparing for MDT round table discussion. I think dividing tasks between team members was great decision as we all only focused on our assigned tasks. I used my skills, knowledge and competence to complete tasks and prepare for discussion (James and Bennett, 2022). My role of coordinator was also helped me to preserve structure which aligned with the requirements of the round table discussion. I was confident during team work because lack of confidence could impact my productivity and performance.
Overall, I played my roles in an effective manner in group work. It highly helped me to prepare for multi-disciplinary table discussion so that I can present my self during discussion confidently.
CONCLUSION
- As per above report it is concluded that nurses are considered as first point of contact for service users.
- Nurses are responsible for performing tests, preparing treatment plan, providing support to patient.
- It is crucial for nurses to follow the acts like duty of care, professional code of conduct etc.
The report has identified that inter-professional and multi-disciplinary are both advantageous team working approaches. But it also have some possible barriers such as; lack of communication, unclear responsibilities etc.
This health and social care assignment sample demonstrates how to structure academic work on nursing roles, legal responsibilities, and inter-professional team working using real case scenarios. If you need assistance with health and social care assignments, reflective writing, MDT analysis, or ethical frameworks, assignment help online can ensure clear arguments, proper referencing, and alignment with university grading criteria.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adamis, D., Krompa, G.M., Rauf, A., Mulligan, O. and O’Mahony, E., 2023. Belbin’s Team Role Balance and Team Effectiveness in Community Mental Health Teams in an Area of Northwest Ireland: Implications for Leadership. Merits, 3(3), pp.604-614.
Alshammari, M., Windle, R., Bowskill, D. and Adams, G., 2021. The role of nurses in diabetes care: a qualitative study. Open Journal of Nursing, 11(8), pp.682-695.
Boone, A., Roelants, M., Hoppenbrouwers, K., Vandermeulen, C., Du Bois, M. and Godderis, L., 2022. Perceived team roles of medical students: a five year cross-sectional study. BMC Medical Education, 22(1), p.198.
Etherington, C., Burns, J.K., Kitto, S., Brehaut, J.C., Britton, M., Singh, S. and Boet, S., 2021. Barriers and enablers to effective interprofessional teamwork in the operating room: A qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework. PloS one, 16(4), p.e0249576.
Iliff, H.A., El‐Boghdadly, K., Ahmad, I., Davis, J., Harris, A., Khan, S., Lan‐Pak‐Kee, V., O’Connor, J., Powell, L., Rees, G. and Tatla, T.S., 2022. Management of haematoma after thyroid surgery: systematic review and multidisciplinary consensus guidelines from the Difficult Airway Society, the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons and the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Anaesthesia, 77(1), pp.82-95.
James, A.H. and Bennett, C.L., 2022. leading teams. Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare, pp.227-244.
Koohang, A., Nord, J.H., Ooi, K.B., Tan, G.W.H., Al-Emran, M., Aw, E.C.X., Baabdullah, A.M., Buhalis, D., Cham, T.H., Dennis, C. and Dutot, V., 2023. Shaping the metaverse into reality: a holistic multidisciplinary understanding of opportunities, challenges, and avenues for future investigation. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 63(3), pp.735-765.
Koskinen, C., Kaldestad, K., Rossavik, B.D., Ree Jensen, A. and Bjerga, G., 2022. Multi-professional ethical competence in healthcare–an ethical practice model. Nursing ethics, 29(4), pp.1003-1013.
O'Flynn, S., 2022. Nurses' role in diabetes management and prevention in community care. British journal of community nursing, 27(8), pp.374-376.
Wallace, A., Bhai, M. and Hughes, D.R., 2025. The effects of nurse practitioner scope of practice laws on diabetic health care costs. Contemporary Economic Policy, 43(1), pp.93-115.
Zajac, S., Woods, A., Tannenbaum, S., Salas, E. and Holladay, C.L., 2021. Overcoming challenges to teamwork in healthcare: a team effectiveness framework and evidence-based guidance. Frontiers in Communication, 6, p.606445.
Online
GOV.UK, 2025. Data protection. [Online] Available through < https://www.gov.uk/data-protection >
Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2025. The Code. [Online] Available through < https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code/ >
