Karen Stainsby and Mari Robbins (foreword). Develop your interpersonal and self-management skills: A practical resource for healthcare administrative and clerical staff, Radcliffe, 141pp. ISBN: 978-1-84619-107-7
✍ Scribed by Sue Wilkinson
- Book ID
- 102253878
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 42 KB
- Volume
- 23
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0749-6753
- DOI
- 10.1002/hpm.939
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Written by Karen Stainsby, who has wide experience of, and long been involved with, the healthcare sector (amongst others), and written for Healthcare Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal and Counselling News, Develop your interpersonal and self-management skills is aimed at a target audience of healthcare support staff either new to the job or who have been doing it for some time, and is offered as a resource to aid self-development.
The book is set out in four parts: Communication, Managing Yourself, Working Together and Taking Care of Yourself. Each part is divided into sub-sections which explain and contextualise the subject matter in a simple style which is supported by the use of diagrams, tables case studies and applied academic theory. Experiments are offered for the reader with the aim of demonstrating and promoting their level of understanding. The author presents boxes containing personal insights and 'alerts' to promote thought and reflection in the forms of 'Points to ponder', 'Did you know?', 'Tip', 'A word of caution' and 'It's a myth' which are useful and constructive. The box theme 'Who said this?' also appears throughout the book and at times may contain a poignant quote or witty remark but, in the main, does not contribute real substance.
The author presents the book in a style which is easy and flexible to read and suggests that it should be regarded as a resource tool by the reader. For example, within the section on Communicating with People Whose Behaviour is Challenging, a situation with which most working in a healthcare environment can identify, the author offers a list of suggestions for managing a situation involving anger which is supported by a 'Tip' box encouraging the reader to question themselves and their actions when encountering such a situation and tips on how to implement the suggested managing strategies.
This approach is repeated throughout the text and incorporates the author's personal application of theories to support the content, for example, in the section on Collaborating, of key relevance for those working within healthcare, the author draws on the theory of the development process for groups/teams, that is, forming, storming, norming and performing, and gives a personal interpretation in simple yet effective text to explain the concept of groups, group dynamics and group behaviour to aid the reader's understanding and interpretation. This is followed by 'Points to ponder' in order to give time for reflection and application by the reader to their own situation.
The reader is encouraged throughout the book to use the tools and techniques in order to gain a better understanding of themselves and subsequently to understand