Organisational Capacity for Family Engagement During COVID: Ensuring Family Communication Needs are met for Better Engagement with Care

Author(s):  
Jenny Barr ◽  
Elizabeth Cashill
2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-44
Author(s):  
Vassilis-Javed Khan ◽  
Panos Markopoulos

The research presented examines how pervasive technology can support intra-family communication, supporting existing practices and complimenting them by addressing communication needs currently unmet by current communication media like mobile phones, social networking systems, and so forth. Specifically the investigation focused on busy families, understood here to be families with two working parents and at least one child sharing the same roof. The class of technologies the authors consider are awareness systems, defined as communication systems that support individuals to maintain, with low effort, a peripheral awareness of each other’s activities and whereabouts. This research combined a variety of research methods including interviews, web surveys, experience sampling, and field testing of functional prototypes of mobile awareness systems. It also involved the development of several applications, which were either seen as research tools in support of the methods applied or as prototypes of awareness systems that embody some of the envisioned characteristics of this emerging class of technologies. The contribution of this research is along two main dimensions. First in identifying intra-family communication needs that drive the adoption of awareness systems and second in providing directions for the design of such systems.


BMJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. k4764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisa Khan ◽  
Nancy D Spector ◽  
Jennifer D Baird ◽  
Michele Ashland ◽  
Amy J Starmer ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective To determine whether medical errors, family experience, and communication processes improved after implementation of an intervention to standardize the structure of healthcare provider-family communication on family centered rounds. Design Prospective, multicenter before and after intervention study. Setting Pediatric inpatient units in seven North American hospitals, 17 December 2014 to 3 January 2017. Participants All patients admitted to study units (3106 admissions, 13171 patient days); 2148 parents or caregivers, 435 nurses, 203 medical students, and 586 residents. Intervention Families, nurses, and physicians coproduced an intervention to standardize healthcare provider-family communication on ward rounds (“family centered rounds”), which included structured, high reliability communication on bedside rounds emphasizing health literacy, family engagement, and bidirectional communication; structured, written real-time summaries of rounds; a formal training programme for healthcare providers; and strategies to support teamwork, implementation, and process improvement. Main outcome measures Medical errors (primary outcome), including harmful errors (preventable adverse events) and non-harmful errors, modeled using Poisson regression and generalized estimating equations clustered by site; family experience; and communication processes (eg, family engagement on rounds). Errors were measured via an established systematic surveillance methodology including family safety reporting. Results The overall rate of medical errors (per 1000 patient days) was unchanged (41.2 (95% confidence interval 31.2 to 54.5) pre-intervention v 35.8 (26.9 to 47.7) post-intervention, P=0.21), but harmful errors (preventable adverse events) decreased by 37.9% (20.7 (15.3 to 28.1) v 12.9 (8.9 to 18.6), P=0.01) post-intervention. Non-preventable adverse events also decreased (12.6 (8.9 to 17.9) v 5.2 (3.1 to 8.8), P=0.003). Top box (eg, “excellent”) ratings for six of 25 components of family reported experience improved; none worsened. Family centered rounds occurred more frequently (72.2% (53.5% to 85.4%) v 82.8% (64.9% to 92.6%), P=0.02). Family engagement 55.6% (32.9% to 76.2%) v 66.7% (43.0% to 84.1%), P=0.04) and nurse engagement (20.4% (7.0% to 46.6%) v 35.5% (17.0% to 59.6%), P=0.03) on rounds improved. Families expressing concerns at the start of rounds (18.2% (5.6% to 45.3%) v 37.7% (17.6% to 63.3%), P=0.03) and reading back plans (4.7% (0.7% to 25.2%) v 26.5% (12.7% to 7.3%), P=0.02) increased. Trainee teaching and the duration of rounds did not change significantly. Conclusions Although overall errors were unchanged, harmful medical errors decreased and family experience and communication processes improved after implementation of a structured communication intervention for family centered rounds coproduced by families, nurses, and physicians. Family centered care processes may improve safety and quality of care without negatively impacting teaching or duration of rounds. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02320175 .


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1017-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Hurtig ◽  
Rebecca M. Alper ◽  
Karen N. T. Bryant ◽  
Krista R. Davidson ◽  
Chelsea Bilskemper

Purpose Many hospitalized patients experience barriers to effective patient–provider communication that can negatively impact their care. These barriers include difficulty physically accessing the nurse call system, communicating about pain and other needs, or both. For many patients, these barriers are a result of their admitting condition and not of an underlying chronic disability. Speech-language pathologists have begun to address patients' short-term communication needs with an array of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies. Method This study used a between-groups experimental design to evaluate the impact of providing patients with AAC systems so that they could summon help and communicate with their nurses. The study examined patients' and nurses' perceptions of the patients' ability to summon help and effectively communicate with caregivers. Results Patients who could summon their nurses and effectively communicate—with or without AAC—had significantly more favorable perceptions than those who could not. Conclusions This study suggests that AAC can be successfully used in acute care settings to help patients overcome access and communication barriers. Working with other members of the health care team is essential to building a “culture of communication” in acute care settings. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9990962


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 991-1016
Author(s):  
Shameka Stanford ◽  
Ovetta Harris

Purpose In 2011, the United Nations estimated there were between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities living around the world, and 80% of them resided in developing countries. Over the last 6 years, this number has increased significantly, and now, over 1 million people live in the Caribbean with some form of disability such as communication disorders resulting in complex communication needs (CCN). Method This publication discusses the benefits of an exploratory, descriptive, nonexperimental study on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) classroom integration training for 8 special educators in the Bahamas who work with children with CCN. Results The results of this study revealed that 100% of the participants reported the study to be effective in increasing their knowledge and skill in the area of implementing AAC into their classrooms, enhancing their ability to team teach and incorporate AAC opportunities for all students with CCN within their classrooms, and increasing their knowledge and skill overall in the areas of AAC and CCN. Conclusion The findings highlight an important area of potential professional development and training that can be replicated in other English-speaking Caribbean territories focused on AAC classroom integration training program for special educators who teach students with CCN.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Hurd

Abstract The team in IEP team is a necessity for students with complex communication needs. These students need the expertise of each team member to design a custom education that allows them to make progress towards state educational standards and build communication competence across curriculum areas. This article covers the strengths each team member brings to the IEP team. Parents bring a long-term perspective of the student; general education teachers bring their knowledge of what curriculum will be covered in the inclusion classroom; and special education teachers bring their training in working with and making adaptations for students with special needs. The article also focuses specifically on ways the speech-language pathologist contributes information on how language is used across the curriculum. A vital part of the role of the SLP on the IEP team is to pinpoint specific areas of language need and to provide teachers with ways to address those areas of need within their curriculum.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste R. Helling ◽  
Jamila Minga

A comprehensive augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) evaluation is critical to providing a viable means of expressive communication for nonverbal people with complex communication needs. Although a number of diagnostic tools are available to assist AAC practitioners with the assessment process, there is a need to tailor the evaluation process to the specific communication needs of the AAC user. The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for developing an effective and clinically driven framework for approaching a user-tailored AAC evaluation process.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Rose Curtis

As the field of telepractice grows, perceived barriers to service delivery must be anticipated and addressed in order to provide appropriate service delivery to individuals who will benefit from this model. When applying telepractice to the field of AAC, additional barriers are encountered when clients with complex communication needs are unable to speak, often present with severe quadriplegia and are unable to position themselves or access the computer independently, and/or may have cognitive impairments and limited computer experience. Some access methods, such as eye gaze, can also present technological challenges in the telepractice environment. These barriers can be overcome, and telepractice is not only practical and effective, but often a preferred means of service delivery for persons with complex communication needs.


2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Fey

Abstract In this article, I propose that, for several reasons, grammar should be an early focus of communication interventions for young children using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. The basic goals for such programs should be to facilitate the child's comprehension of the language of the community, or the target language, thus leading the way to literacy, and to foster the child's use of symbol combinations that mirror the grammatical patterns of speaking children acquiring the target language, even if they cannot be fully grammatically complete. I introduce five principles that underlie most successful approaches to grammar interventions with children with specific language impairment. My initial attempts to apply these principles to interventions with children with complex communication needs indicate that they may be of considerable value to clinicians planning intervention programs. On the other hand, the challenges posed by the intellectual and physical limitations of many AAC users and their communication systems make it necessary to modify at least Principle 5 if the basic goals of intervention are to be met.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Christine Fiestas

Abstract In this paper, we explore cultural values and expectations that might vary among different groups. Using the collectivist-individualist framework, we discuss differences in beliefs about the caregiver role in teaching and interacting with young children. Differences in these beliefs can lead to dissatisfaction with services on the part of caregivers and with frustration in service delivery on the part of service providers. We propose that variation in caregiver and service provider perspectives arise from cultural values, some of which are instilled through our own training as speech-language pathologists. Understanding where these differences in cultural orientation originate can help to bridge these differences. These can lead to positive adaptations in the ways that speech-language pathology services are provided within an early intervention setting that will contribute to effective intervention.


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