Apply the principles of communicating for safety to most if not all situations
Consideration and action to ensure safe communication in the health care of people with intellectual disability will be required in most if not all situations throughout a hospital or day clinic admission.
The Commission’s Communicating for Safety Resource Portal provides guidance, tools and resources to support the core skills for structured clinical communication; that is, ‘the exchange of information about a person’s care that occurs between treating clinicians, members of a multidisciplinary team, and between clinicians and patients, families and carers’.
Consider using tools and resources such as ISBAR (Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation) to promote a structured process. ISBAR is a clinical handover process that helps ensure completeness of information and can be used in a wide range of clinical contexts. ISBAR allows for inclusion of a range of factors that may affect the care of a person with intellectual disability.
The touchpoints at which clinical communication occurs are described in the Framework for Communicating for Safety.
Figure 3: Framework for Communicating for Safety touchpoints for clinical communication
All those involved in any aspect of a person’s hospital admission need to know that the person has intellectual disability, as well as the person’s required level of support and any specific risks while they are in an acute care setting.
Communicating this information will facilitate any reasonable adjustments that may be needed for the person and ensure that those reasonable adjustments are made consistently throughout the person’s stay in hospital or a day clinic.
Strategies to assist include:
- Using the appropriate communication methods or systems when talking to the person with intellectual disability
- Liaising with the person’s family, supporters or guardians to ensure communication for safety is a priority. This includes having regular discussions and sharing updates to address concerns or seek additional information about an emerging risk
- Facilitating a transition of care plan with those supporting the person in the community, including their family, NDIS service providers, GP and other healthcare providers.
