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Communication pathways in community aged care: an A ustralian study
Author(s) -
Allen Jacqui,
Ottmann Goetz,
Brown Rhonda,
Rasmussen Bodil
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of older people nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.707
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1748-3743
pISSN - 1748-3735
DOI - 10.1111/opn.12004
Subject(s) - focus group , exploratory research , context (archaeology) , nursing , health care , qualitative research , medicine , quality (philosophy) , information exchange , psychology , public relations , business , marketing , sociology , paleontology , social science , telecommunications , anthropology , economics , computer science , political science , biology , economic growth , philosophy , epistemology
Background Health and social care practitioners collaborate in discharge planning for older people. Difficulties securing timely and quality discharge information and unclear role boundaries can be challenging. There are limited reports in the literature describing community‐based practitioners' roles communicating client information. Aim To describe the roles of community‐based practitioners in communication of older clients' information in an Australian context. Design A descriptive and exploratory qualitative research design was applied. Methods Four focus groups were conducted in 2009 with a small sample ( n = 16) of district nurses, practice nurses and aged care case managers. Results All participants described communication as a core characteristic of their role focused on minimising risks for older people. Participants valued dialogue with other health and social care providers in real time with an emphasis on telephone communication, face‐to‐face meetings, and case conferences. Telephone communication was considered important where there was an urgent need to problem solve. Written communication was noted as less effective. Conclusions There is an increasing need for stronger models of communication in community‐based settings to facilitate safe, efficient and sustainable health and social outcomes for older people. Implications for practice There is limited available research with this focus to guide practice. Findings from this exploratory study indicate a number of important areas for further research: (i) to understand how communication feedback systems and pathways between community and inpatient providers could improve information exchange and (ii) to describe community nurses' roles in communication and medication risks for older people.