What does a physical examination involve, and why does it come first?

A physical examination involves taking a history and checking signs such as the pulse, blood pressure and breath sounds, and it often narrows the possibilities before any test is ordered.

What does an electrocardiogram record?

An electrocardiogram records the electrical activity of the heart through electrodes placed on the skin, showing the rhythm and any damage to the heart muscle.

Why might an exercise electrocardiogram be carried out?

An exercise electrocardiogram is recorded while the person walks on a treadmill, because narrowing of a coronary artery may only show when the heart is working hard.

What does a coronary angiogram show, and how is it done?

A coronary angiogram uses contrast dye injected through a fine tube together with X-ray imaging to show exactly where a coronary artery is narrowed or blocked.

What is a venogram used to look for?

A venogram uses contrast dye and imaging to show the veins, and it is used to look for a clot blocking a deep vein.

CCEA A-Level Health and Social Care 0003

Promoting Quality Care

Topic overview The values of care and their impact on service users Individual rights and choices Anti-discriminatory practice Respect, dignity and confidentiality Children's rights and special educational needs legislation Human rights and safeguarding legislation Disability discrimination legislation Mental health legislation and capacity Health and safety legislation, COSHH and RIDDOR Policies that promote quality care Poor practice and its impact on people

Communication in Health, Social Care and Early Years Settings

Topic overview The range of people staff communicate with Verbal communication Non-verbal communication and body language Written and electronic communication The purposes of communication in care settings Confidentiality and privacy in communication Physical and emotional factors that support communication Practitioners' communication skills Barriers arising from sensory impairment, illness and disability Barriers arising from mental health, language and culture Overcoming barriers to communication Team communication and reflecting on your own practice

Health and Well-Being

Topic overview Concepts of health, ill-health and disease Mental health, mental illness and psychological well-being The needs of service users and how settings meet them The effects of ill-health on education, employment, income and relationships Socio-economic factors affecting health and well-being Inherited conditions: cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease Conditions associated with ageing: osteoarthritis and type 2 diabetes Environmental factors: location, pollution and occupational hazards Behavioural factors: exercise, diet, smoking, alcohol and drug use Approaches to health promotion and personal responsibility Statutory services and the World Health Organisation Voluntary, private and commercial providers Prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping Anti-discriminatory practice and equality law in Northern Ireland

Safeguarding Children

Topic overview Physical development from one to eight years Intellectual and language development from one to eight years Emotional and social development from one to eight years Promoting development through activities and interaction Piaget and Vygotsky in early years practice Skinner and Bandura: managing behaviour and modelling Erikson and Bowlby: attachment, identity and settling in Types of abuse Indicators of abuse in children Safeguarding responsibilities and the setting's policies Factors that increase the risk of child abuse

Adult Service Users

Topic overview Key concepts in work with adults: need, protection, disability, empowerment and person-centred care Older people: needs and how they are met Adults with physical disabilities: needs and how they are met Adults with learning disabilities: needs and how they are met Adults living with mental ill health: needs and how they are met Health practitioners working with adult service users Social care practitioners and advocacy Reablement and the care planning cycle The Bengoa Report and a new model of health and social care Confidentiality, safeguarding adults and whistle-blowing policies Statutory, private and voluntary provision and how it is funded Informal carers and the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002

Holistic Therapies

Topic overview The holistic approach and safe practice Acupuncture Aromatherapy Herbalism Reflexology Pilates and kinesiology Medical approaches: medication, surgery and physiotherapy Managing asthma, high blood pressure and arthritis Managing insomnia, migraine, back pain, depression and irritable bowel syndrome Comparing holistic therapies and medical treatments Current trends, evidence and holistic therapies in care settings

Understanding the Physiology of Health and Illness

Topic overview The animal cell and its organelles Cell specialisation and the four tissue types The organisation of the nervous system The major areas of the brain Neurones, the reflex arc and the synapse Multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and stroke The endocrine glands and their hormones Type 1 and type 2 diabetes The digestive system and how food is broken down Pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and stomach ulcers The urinary system and the kidney nephron Renal failure, incontinence and dehydration Living with a physiological disorder

Applied Research

Topic overview Choosing a research topic and writing a rationale Research objectives and the hypothesis Searching the literature and using secondary sources Harvard referencing and citing sources Questionnaires as a research tool Interviews and interview schedules Observation and observation charts Validity and reliability in research design Sampling techniques and representativeness Ethics in research with people who use services Collating and presenting quantitative data Analysing results and drawing conclusions Evaluating the methodology and recommending improvements

Body Systems and Physiological Disorders

Topic overview The heart and the cardiac cycle Blood, blood vessels and the double circulation Control of heart rate and blood pressure The respiratory system, ventilation and gas exchange Behaviour that protects the heart and lungs Normal ranges for pulse and breathing rates, and causes of deviation Monitoring pulse and breathing safely before and after exercise Presenting and analysing monitoring results Coronary heart disease, asthma and other physiological disorders Diagnostic techniques and what each one shows Treatments, care pathways, practitioners and support services The effects of a physiological disorder on everyday life

Providing Services

Topic overview The origins of the welfare state Legislation shaping service provision in Northern Ireland Safeguarding, mental health and disability legislation Policies in health and social care settings Demographic trends and their effect on services Statutory, private, voluntary and informal providers How the providers are funded Integration, community care and evaluating provision Meeting physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs Accessing services and routes of referral Barriers to access and how they are overcome The roles and specialisms of practitioners Interdisciplinary team working Codes of practice, regulation and quality assurance

Public Health and Health Promotion

Topic overview The concept of public health Public health issues in the United Kingdom How public health issues are addressed in Northern Ireland Legislation, taxation and the law as public health tools The Public Health Agency and its campaigns Approaches to health promotion Evaluating a health promotion campaign Choosing a topic, an aim and a target group Delivery methods and materials Drawing up and justifying the plan Designing tools to evaluate the activity Carrying out and evaluating the activity

Supporting the Family

Topic overview Family structures since the Second World War Why family structures have changed How families meet physical and intellectual needs How families meet emotional and social needs Health and social care services a family may need Statutory services and how they support families The private sector and informal care Voluntary organisations supporting families Effects on families of accessing services Domestic violence, child abuse and addiction Poverty, mental illness and bereavement in families Poor parenting, behavioural problems, special needs and racism

Understanding Human Behaviour

Topic overview The psychoanalytic perspective and Freud's theory of personality The humanistic perspective and Rogers' theory of personality Behaviourism: Pavlov, Skinner and conditioning The cognitive perspective: Beck and Ellis Social learning theory and the Bobo doll experiment The biological perspective on behaviour Perspectives on depression and its treatment Perspectives on aggression and its treatment Perspectives on stress and its management Perspectives on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa Perspectives on phobias and their treatment Socio-economic influences on behaviour

Human Nutrition and Health

Topic overview Protein, carbohydrate and fat: functions and sources Vitamins: functions, sources and deficiency Minerals, water and dietary fibre Current dietary guidance and the bodies that issue it Nutritional requirements at each stage of life Vegan diets and meeting nutritional requirements Energy requirements, basal metabolic rate and activity levels Modifying recipes and diets for intolerance and allergy Diet-related conditions of the gut, bowel and teeth Diet, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity Factors influencing food choice Food hygiene and the safe storage and preparation of food Food poisoning bacteria, symptoms and food safety enforcement

Body Systems and Physiological Disorders

Diagnostic techniques and what each one shows

3 things to know
A2 2

Overview

Blood tests, imaging, tracings and functional tests, what each is able to reveal and what it cannot, how the results are read together, and what the person experiences during each.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What can a chest X-ray reveal?

Key term

Why is emotional support part of good practice around diagnostic testing?

Key term

Name the three main features of a normal electrocardiogram trace and what each represents.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What does a physical examination involve, and why does it come first?
Model answer
A physical examination involves taking a history and checking signs such as the pulse, blood pressure and breath sounds, and it often narrows the possibilities before any test is ordered.
2
What does an electrocardiogram record?
Model answer
An electrocardiogram records the electrical activity of the heart through electrodes placed on the skin, showing the rhythm and any damage to the heart muscle.
3
Name the three main features of a normal electrocardiogram trace and what each represents.
Model answer
A normal trace shows a P wave as the atria depolarise, a QRS complex as the ventricles depolarise and a T wave as the ventricles recover.
4
Why might an exercise electrocardiogram be carried out?
Model answer
An exercise electrocardiogram is recorded while the person walks on a treadmill, because narrowing of a coronary artery may only show when the heart is working hard.
5
What does a coronary angiogram show, and how is it done?
Model answer
A coronary angiogram uses contrast dye injected through a fine tube together with X-ray imaging to show exactly where a coronary artery is narrowed or blocked.
6
What is a venogram used to look for?
Model answer
A venogram uses contrast dye and imaging to show the veins, and it is used to look for a clot blocking a deep vein.

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Promoting Quality Care

Communication in Health, Social Care and Early Years Settings

Health and Well-Being

Safeguarding Children

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