This fully updated and revised edition of Essential Knowledge and Skills for Healthcare Assistants and Assistant Practitioners is a practical and comprehensive text designed to equip you with the necessary clinical skills for your profession. This book: * equips you with the knowledge to provide the safest and most effective patient care possible; * provides evidence-based guidelines to ensure best practice that is matched to the National Occupational Standards and the Care Certificate; * includes new chapters on administering injections, ear irrigation and examining the feet of people with diabetes, and an entirely rewritten chapter on protocols; * addresses the evolving role of the healthcare assistant and training opportunities; * supplies comprehensive coverage of both primary and secondary care settings, with an emphasis on primary care; * covers accountability, communication skills, confidentiality and reflection; and * uses a light-hearted and accessible style, with definitions, case studies and activities to aid understanding. This is an indispensable guide for all those training as healthcare assistants and assistant practitioners, and an introductory textbook for students embarking on nursing and health and social care programmes.