Best Care for People with Communication Disabilities

A project to help patients with communication difficulties better explain their needs has been showcased recently at Latrobe Regional Health (LRH). 

The ‘Best Care for People with Communication Disabilities’ known as ‘The Best Care Project’, has been available in the LRH Emergency Department (ED) since late 2023 and was the focus of a presentation to stakeholders in recent weeks. 

“We were invited by Scope, the largest not for profit disability service provider in Australia, to start using their resources, LRH Manager of Speech Pathology, Fiona Derham said 

“The target group is people- at some level of crisis in their health who were living with a disability or temporarily unable to communicate verbally. 

This group is at increased risk of not getting the care they needed as quickly as we would want.”   

Introducing the Best Care Project to LRH has seen several initiatives occur to ensure staff are skilled and comfortable using the approach in their daily work. 

“Firstly, it was about talking with colleagues about the extra level of challenge that is involved in treating someone who may not be able to communicate their needs in a way we would normally recognise,” Fiona said. 

“This might be because of existing speech difficulty or a temporary issue that is preventing them from speaking. From this starting point we are encouraging staff to see the person that is presenting at ED rather than the disability and then to respond with the resources we’ve developed.” 

Some of those resources include communication books with pictures that the patient can point at to tell a nurse or doctor if they are in pain, where the pain might be and what level of pain they are experiencing as a starting point. 

Other pictures are available for other key points of information that will help in forming a diagnosis and then a treatment plan. 

“We continue to offer training for staff in ED to support their use of the communication tools that are readily available on the portable workstations in ED that accompany the staff to treatment bays,” Fiona said. 

Introducing a new resource to a busy ED department can be a challenge but Nurse Unit Manager of the LRH ED Unit Jen Pridgeon says her team have welcomed the project’s roll out. 

“Using the Better Care Project tools has been a great help with those patients that require a little bit of extra attention when it comes to getting their history, starting a treatment and just lowering the anxiety they might be experiencing. We’re looking forward to getting everyone trained up and embedding it in our day-to-day practice,” Jen said. 

The Best Care Project team has also been working with Ambulance Victoria staff to introduce them to the practice which then aids in the handover of patients at ED and a continuous model of care. 

“There is always a handover of important information when a patient is transferred from an ambulance. If the Ambos can gather information from a patient that is having difficulties communicating via the tools we’ve been able to develop then that patient can get better care,” Fiona said. 

Decreasing communication barriers at LRH has also been extended to LRH Cafeterias where a picture-based hot drinks menu is now on display to assist visitors to order their hot drinks.  Cafeteria staff have also received training to support the use of these visual menus with consumers.   

“Presenting to the Scope Board was a great opportunity for everyone at LRH to just pause for a moment and note how far we’ve come with the Better Care Project and what lies ahead of us in terms of continuing to work together to build these resources into everyday practice and deliver the person centered care we aim to deliver at LRH,” Fiona said. 

Pictured L-R: LRH Manager of Speech Pathology, Fiona Derham, Emergency Department Nurses Georgia and Shannon.