Critical Practice in Health and Social Care

This major new textbook will take a fresh look at professions and professionalism - what these terms mean and what they need to mean in the future in the health and social care field.

Written by experienced teachers, the textbook: reviews the evidence on team and inter-professional working, teasing out the new perspectives and the skills required; examines what professional development entails and what it means in different fields of practice; tackles ethical dilemmas of practice alongside changing concepts in society of accountability; explores current debates about how professionals can be supported in their practice and how their performance is best regulated; and highlights the contribution that practitioners can make - alongside others - to policy development at local level.

This is a course text for the Open University course K302 Critical Practice in Health and Social Care.

Critical Practice in Health and Social Care will be essential reading for students and practitioners in social work, nursing and health studies, and for those involved across the caring professions within the health and social sercice sector.