Competency in Practice Assessment Tool:
Useful Web Resources
Competency in Practice Assessment Tool: Useful Web Resources
As we were developing the feedback to the Competency in Practice Assessment (CiPA) tool
we asked the students working on the project to look for web resources that they thought
might be useful and write a brief commentary. Here they are: they cover the following topics:
1. Communication skills
2. How to motivate people from your own or other professions:
3. Multi-disciplinary professional relationships
4. Ethics, ethical dilemmas around professional practice
5. Evidence base for your profession (includes generic sites and some focused
specifically on various professions)
6. Information about different professions
7. Technical skills for your profession
1. Communication Skills
http://www.mindtools.com/page8.html This website offers practical advice for improving
communicating skills from developing active listening to ensuring that you are more aware of
what your body language is conveying. This site gives prompts and ideas about how you can
improve your verbal and non-verbal communication skills through step by step approaches.
This web page http://www.ehow.com/how_6400191_develop-good-listening-respondingskills.html works through a series of instructions which can guide you through the process of
developing good listening and responding skills. The page offers the same format to help
improve the listening skills when working with children as well.
http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/elearning/cs/index.asp
This website has a number of exercises to understand and develop communication skills.
http://itdp.providence.edu/Faculty/Mattison_2/Social_Work_Skills.ppt
This is a PowerPoint presentation on interviewing skills aimed at social workers, but the
skills would be useful for anyone.
ALPS CiPA self assessment useful web resources Sept11 http://cipa.hud.ac.uk/
Competency in Practice Assessment Tool:
Useful Web Resources
2. How to Motivate People From Your Own or Other Professions:
http://managementhelp.org/guiding/motivate/basics.htm This website might be useful as it
addresses common misconceptions on what people think are good or bad motivation
techniques. It lists myths which could have been advised to employees or used in general
life to life situations which do not necessary work for everyone. It then goes on to list some
basic principles of how to motivate employees and steps you can take to help you identify
what motivates yourself and then apply this to the work situation. It also has access to a peer
group to receive or give advice to others, other topics which are related to motivation and
work management and recommended books available.
2. Multidisciplinary Professional Relationships
http://www.institute.nhs.uk/ This webpage is a huge resource for all areas of Health
Professionals’ work. Within it, the following link is for a package to help improve
multidisciplinary team working through exploration of the current type of team work and
information and tips as who and what should be involved in MDTs and ways to monitor your
effectiveness and progress. You need to register and log on with NHS details.
http://www.institute.nhs.uk/index.php?option=com_joomcart&Itemid=194&main_page=docu
ment_product_info&products_id=432
Also, I think this article would be worthwhile referencing.
https://www.cihc.ca/library/bitstream/10296/399/1/RobinsonCottrell_ChangingProfPractice_
2005.pdf
"This article reflects on the perspectives and experiences of health professionals and their
colleagues in multi-agency teams about the impact of multi-agency teamwork on their
professional knowledge and learning and on their ways of working.
4. Ethics, Ethical Dilemmas around Professional Practice
http://learn.gwumc.edu/hscidist/LearningObjects/EthicalDecisionMaking/framework_stand.ht
m
I chose this website because it gives step by step stages to making a decision in ethical
dilemmas also it provides a worksheet which enables students to reflect on ethical dilemmas
they have faced when on placement and think about how different individuals feel in these
situations.
ALPS CiPA self assessment useful web resources Sept11 http://cipa.hud.ac.uk/
Competency in Practice Assessment Tool:
Useful Web Resources
5. Evidence Base for your Profession:
NICE is an independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on
promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health: http://www.nice.org.uk/
I always refer to this website when searching for guidelines and best advice which is
evidence based, such as managing many health conditions, e.g. diabetes or asthma. The
guidelines are recommendations on the treatment and care of people with specific
diseases/conditions. NICE’s clinical guidelines are based on the best available evidence, so
I can be certain that I am giving the best care possible . I also find NICE’s quick reference
guides useful so that I can read the most important information, which is less time
consuming.
Professional societies have detailed web sites that include information, research and
guidelines. These are too numerous to list – so you just need to search for your profession.
Here are some resources that are aimed at specific professions, but may also have wider
appeal:
http://www.pedro.org.au/ : This link to PEDro is an online resource database containing
randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. This
site is very easy to use, allows free searching and none members can also access free full
documents.
http://www.csp.org.uk/professional-union/practice/evidence-base: This website is a useful
link from the CSP webpage which lists helpful evidence based resources. It includes links
like NHS evidence, clinical guidelines and the Physiotherapy journal.
http://www.otseeker.com/resources/pdf/Introduction%20to%20EBP.pdf this is a colourful
step by step guide introducing using evidence based practice in Occupational Therapy, why
its important and how to find evidence based practice.
Out of the web resources available I have decided that the best internet evidence base for
my profession is: http://www.medicinescomplete.com
This resource contains nearly everything you need to know as a pharmacist and all the
information is in one place. There are seventeen resources in total, of which I find
Martindale: The complete drug reference the most useful. The title indicates its contents;
it contains nearly every important piece of information about every drug. It is a vital resource
for evidenced based practice. However, I do not think this resource is free so not everyone
can access it.
A second resource which I also found to be useful is; http://www.evidence.nhs.uk
I believe this resource is free (or access will be permitted if working for the NHS), hence its
inclusion in the list
ALPS CiPA self assessment useful web resources Sept11 http://cipa.hud.ac.uk/
Competency in Practice Assessment Tool:
Useful Web Resources
6. Information about different Professions
http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/career.shtml
I think this website would be useful, as it gives information on many professions within the
NHS and the roles of these professionals. As well as giving people a chance to look at their
own roles, they would also be able to look at the roles of other professionals.
7.Technical Skills for your Profession
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jODexzFxf08C&printsec=frontcover&dq=developing+tec
hnical+skills+in+social+work+web+resources&source=bl&ots=3sETKIh_im&sig=GW61IDXtZ
IgW79dexB_qxqB4VE&hl=en&ei=LBDATaj8G9Ky8QPysOzaBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=re
sult&resnum=3&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
The above link is for an online google book called Technology in Social Work Education and
Curriculum and it offers information about how and why students should access software
which may be useful for them to gather evidence or evaluate findings. It also states how the
student can use different types of technology to advocate for their client, plan for their
interventions and access any virtual learning.
The National Association of Social Workers Standards for Technology:
http://www.naswdc.org/practice/standards/NASWTechnologyStandards.pdf states under
Standard 4. Technical Competencies
Much of the technical skills that Social Workers require will be developed through the proformas, assessments and report writing that will take place throughout their placement. They
need to gather an understanding of the nature of the organisations that they work with and
the processes that they must also work though.
8.Personal Development and Self- directed Learning
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/
This website includes learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers. It offers
resources, video clips, educational games and activities to make learning more enjoyable
and this promotes the learning of school-age children, it also supports the needs of teachers
and for parents to support children's learning. The website also provides support for adults to
improve their skills, offering online courses, an online search of local courses available and
advice and information for adults who wish to return to learning. I think this website is great
for everyone of all ages and not restricted to a specific group.
The CiPA self assessment tool can be found at: http://cipa.hud.ac.uk/
ALPS CiPA self assessment useful web resources Sept11 http://cipa.hud.ac.uk/