Task 5, Sustainable Massage Practice
Through out this blog I am seeing the relationships between massage practice and principles of environmental, social and economic sustainability and will be outlining at least three ways in which I could make my practice more sustainable.
Environmental
With New Zealanders trying to clean up their act by saving power and looking after our environment, I guess we should help by making our clinics and equipment as environmentally friendly as we can. Things that will help, is making sure we are efficiently heating the clinic with out losing the heat generated. “Heat pump systems are commonly 300% efficient, meaning for every 1kWh of electricity they consume, they generate 3kWh of heat (Air source heat pumps). This shows that using a heat pump will befit the business, because of their conversion efficiency.
Lighting is another cost, as you don’t want to work in a dark environment but you don’t want too much light. So having a couple of lamps with energy efficient lights in them with help save power and in the long run help with the sustainability of the environment. Energy efficient lights “save up to 80% of the electricity an incandescent bulb would use” (Energy Efficient Lighting, 2003).
With washing our linen we should uses a nature friendly washing powder that is less harmful on the environment and should hang them out to dry as using the dryer is using power and we are trying to be energy efficient to save the environment for the next generation.
Social
Things that will make a clinic more sustainable would be having interaction with the community, different types of religions and cultures. By having an understanding of these social interactions it will help with recognition of the clinic through the communities eyes. By this I mean if they see us out and about helping or working our name is out there for them to see and it is also another way of advertising without any extra cost.
Work done in the clinic that is related to social sustainability will be how we help our clients; this might be by distressing them or releasing pain. By giving our clients relaxation and achieving their goals their social interaction with friend and family will be improved and will reflect back on your work.
A way to make it easier to understand different cultures or religions will be working from a clinic as you will have to deal with lots of different people. This will help to learn about different types of beliefs and what is right and wrong. By having this understanding will show the client that you have an interest and you do not judge who they are, because of their cultural or religions.
Economic
To be able to run a business that is successful you have to know what target audience you want to aim at. Having the right people coming into your clinic is going to help with sustaining the profit of you business. At the moment with people trying to save money where they can this is very important as you want to be able to cover your cost for running the clinic, other wise you won’t have a clinic to run.
As we know massage is growing every year, there is no shortage of a massage therapist through out New Zealand and even on the world scale it’s growing. So to be able to sustain a business in this fast growing industry we need to know the pros and cons to running a successful clinic. I think we need to put these three things, environment, social and economics together to produce a massage practice that is sustainable to run and will work for employers and clients.
The three things that I will like to try and use in my massage practice to make it more sustainable will be making it more heat efficient as this is import as I want my clients to be warm and comfortable as possible and I don’t want to be paying heaps in power to heat my room.
Having knowledge of my clients cultural and religious beliefs I think will help me run a successful clinic as I will not only show them that I take and interest in their life but I might be able to help their social life by making them a happier human being and allowing them to communicate with people that they might not have been able to before.
Making sure that my clinic focuses on the right target audience I think is a major aspect of sustaining a massage practice. You want the right type of people to be walking through your doors and you want to make sure you can achieve their goals that they have come in for as that is how you build a good client base with the right people.
1) Right House. Air source heat pumps. Retrieved May, 21st 2009, From http://www.righthouse.co.nz/products/heating/heat-pump
2) Aurora, 2003. Energy Efficient Lighting. Retrieved May, 21st 2009, From http://www.electricity.co.nz/lighting.htm
3) Class notes. (2009). Fundamentals of massage, Sustainability. Retrieved May, 21st, 2009, From David McQuillan class lecturer.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Ethics of Professional Practice
Client-centered care
It is all about the clients, they are the ones that bring in the money to your business so you have to make sure that they are well looked after and are happy with your services because you want them to return. It is the little things that matter like being polite and welcoming and showing respect when consulting them at the start, to find out their goals for the session. If they are religions or have beliefs then respect that. The main focus for client care is to make sure the client feels comfortable in the environment.
Informed consent
This is the information that we get the client to fill out and sign before the treatment. So we have an understanding of their medical history and it is also to cover our selves if something goes wrong. The information on the forms has contact numbers and will also show me if there is a high risk of anything happening or places I should be aware of during the treatment. Also in this part of the professional practice we will inform the client about clinical procedures, payment terms, and if they need to be referred to another clinic, what procedures are in place for the transfer. Then an explanation of our records and assessment are given, the security of their information and the after affects that may occur after the massage (McQuillan, D, 2009). After all of this the client or the therapist has the right of refusal if they do not feel safe or do not want to risk injury.
Scope of practices
“Scope of Practice” is a terminology used by state licensing boards for various professions that defines the procedures, actions, and processes that are permitted for the licensed individual” (Scope of practices,2009). This means to run an ethical profession you have to be a licensed massage therapist and have knowledge in what type of massage you are doing on your clients. If you are just a relaxation massage practitioner then you stick to soft tissue and stress release and pleasure (notes). If a fully trained massage therapist you can do relaxation and pain relief and injury management (McQuillan, D, 2009). In your clinic you should show some where what you’re qualified to do and ensure the client that what you are doing is under the New Zealand massage code of ethics (McQuillan, D, 2009). If you do not have the qualification to do a type of massage you may harm or injure your clients and you will not last long as a massage therapist as OSH will be making a visit to your massage practice.
Confidentiality
“The ethical principle of confidentiality requires that information shared by the client with the therapist in the course of treatment is not shared with others” (Confidentiality, 2009). This is important among client and therapist because it builds trust and they will return. The only time that a clients information can be given to another medical profession is when you have written consent from the client them selves stating that they give permission to give that medical profession their information. With keeping this information safe and away form other people is a filing cabinet that has a lock on it. If it is saved on computer make sure I have a password to lock the computer and keep others out from seeing it. When in public a therapist should not greet client unless client greets them first (McQuillan, D, 2009).
Boundaries
This is a big thing in the profession of massage as the client has faith in you as they are lying on the table with very little clothes on. When learning massage strokes you learn the ethics of what parts of the body you are allowed to massage and where to stay away form. Draping, if done correctly all out of bounded areas should not be exposed allowing the client to feel comfortable. Boundaries with the client is keeping your emotional distance and clarifying your role, responsibilities, expectation and limitations to ensure your safety as well.
Power differentials
“In theory and ethical practice, the power differential exists for the purpose of bringing benefit to these more vulnerable individuals” (Power differentials, 2009). Power differentials is where once the client is in your room you make them feel that you have control of what you are about to do, giving them confidence as they are laying there with very little clothes on. Same again if draping is done correctly patient should feel comfortable.
Relationships
In the ethics of the massage practices we must keep our boundaries between client and therapist and try not to get involved in a relationship. If you do start to have a relationship with a client we need to make sure you refer them on and stop their treatment straight away. The relationship that we want to make with our clients is trust and making sure they are happy with the treatment we are giving them. We want them to return.
Transference
Signs of transference are clients who start to rely on you, not only as their therapist. They become your friend as they began to gain your trust and this my lead to things such as them asking questions about your personal life, asking for advice about their personal life, bringing you gifts and ringing you after hours (Salvo, 2007). Those are just a few but they are what we as therapists need to look out for to ensure we do not cross any boundary.
Counter-transference
These are the issues that we bring into the clinic from our personal life. This is where a councilor is good as they are the person you can let out all your feelings to whether they are personal or work related. Signs we need to look for are becoming depressed if clients can not make it, getting argumentative with a client, making excuses for inappropriate behaviour (Salvo, 2007). Those are just a few but counter-transference is something we as therapist do not want to get our selves into as it could jeopardize our career and future in the massage industry.
Wikipedia. (20, Feb, 2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved May, 11th, 2009, From, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_of_practice
Wikipedis. (3, May, 2009). Confidentiality. Retrieved May, 11th, 2009, From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidentiality
Massage today. (2009). Power Differential. Retrieved May 11th, 2009, From http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=10872
Class notes. (2009). Fundamentals of massage, ethics. Retrieved May, 11th, 2009, From David McQuillan class lecturer.
Salvo, S. (2007).Massage therapy. Principles and practice (3rd ed.). Missouri: Saunders.
It is all about the clients, they are the ones that bring in the money to your business so you have to make sure that they are well looked after and are happy with your services because you want them to return. It is the little things that matter like being polite and welcoming and showing respect when consulting them at the start, to find out their goals for the session. If they are religions or have beliefs then respect that. The main focus for client care is to make sure the client feels comfortable in the environment.
Informed consent
This is the information that we get the client to fill out and sign before the treatment. So we have an understanding of their medical history and it is also to cover our selves if something goes wrong. The information on the forms has contact numbers and will also show me if there is a high risk of anything happening or places I should be aware of during the treatment. Also in this part of the professional practice we will inform the client about clinical procedures, payment terms, and if they need to be referred to another clinic, what procedures are in place for the transfer. Then an explanation of our records and assessment are given, the security of their information and the after affects that may occur after the massage (McQuillan, D, 2009). After all of this the client or the therapist has the right of refusal if they do not feel safe or do not want to risk injury.
Scope of practices
“Scope of Practice” is a terminology used by state licensing boards for various professions that defines the procedures, actions, and processes that are permitted for the licensed individual” (Scope of practices,2009). This means to run an ethical profession you have to be a licensed massage therapist and have knowledge in what type of massage you are doing on your clients. If you are just a relaxation massage practitioner then you stick to soft tissue and stress release and pleasure (notes). If a fully trained massage therapist you can do relaxation and pain relief and injury management (McQuillan, D, 2009). In your clinic you should show some where what you’re qualified to do and ensure the client that what you are doing is under the New Zealand massage code of ethics (McQuillan, D, 2009). If you do not have the qualification to do a type of massage you may harm or injure your clients and you will not last long as a massage therapist as OSH will be making a visit to your massage practice.
Confidentiality
“The ethical principle of confidentiality requires that information shared by the client with the therapist in the course of treatment is not shared with others” (Confidentiality, 2009). This is important among client and therapist because it builds trust and they will return. The only time that a clients information can be given to another medical profession is when you have written consent from the client them selves stating that they give permission to give that medical profession their information. With keeping this information safe and away form other people is a filing cabinet that has a lock on it. If it is saved on computer make sure I have a password to lock the computer and keep others out from seeing it. When in public a therapist should not greet client unless client greets them first (McQuillan, D, 2009).
Boundaries
This is a big thing in the profession of massage as the client has faith in you as they are lying on the table with very little clothes on. When learning massage strokes you learn the ethics of what parts of the body you are allowed to massage and where to stay away form. Draping, if done correctly all out of bounded areas should not be exposed allowing the client to feel comfortable. Boundaries with the client is keeping your emotional distance and clarifying your role, responsibilities, expectation and limitations to ensure your safety as well.
Power differentials
“In theory and ethical practice, the power differential exists for the purpose of bringing benefit to these more vulnerable individuals” (Power differentials, 2009). Power differentials is where once the client is in your room you make them feel that you have control of what you are about to do, giving them confidence as they are laying there with very little clothes on. Same again if draping is done correctly patient should feel comfortable.
Relationships
In the ethics of the massage practices we must keep our boundaries between client and therapist and try not to get involved in a relationship. If you do start to have a relationship with a client we need to make sure you refer them on and stop their treatment straight away. The relationship that we want to make with our clients is trust and making sure they are happy with the treatment we are giving them. We want them to return.
Transference
Signs of transference are clients who start to rely on you, not only as their therapist. They become your friend as they began to gain your trust and this my lead to things such as them asking questions about your personal life, asking for advice about their personal life, bringing you gifts and ringing you after hours (Salvo, 2007). Those are just a few but they are what we as therapists need to look out for to ensure we do not cross any boundary.
Counter-transference
These are the issues that we bring into the clinic from our personal life. This is where a councilor is good as they are the person you can let out all your feelings to whether they are personal or work related. Signs we need to look for are becoming depressed if clients can not make it, getting argumentative with a client, making excuses for inappropriate behaviour (Salvo, 2007). Those are just a few but counter-transference is something we as therapist do not want to get our selves into as it could jeopardize our career and future in the massage industry.
Wikipedia. (20, Feb, 2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved May, 11th, 2009, From, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scope_of_practice
Wikipedis. (3, May, 2009). Confidentiality. Retrieved May, 11th, 2009, From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidentiality
Massage today. (2009). Power Differential. Retrieved May 11th, 2009, From http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=10872
Class notes. (2009). Fundamentals of massage, ethics. Retrieved May, 11th, 2009, From David McQuillan class lecturer.
Salvo, S. (2007).Massage therapy. Principles and practice (3rd ed.). Missouri: Saunders.
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