Effectively Communicating Older People’s Care Needs
Published: 23 April 2024
Published: 23 April 2024
Effective communication and information management within an aged care organisation means that older people only need to tell their stories once instead of repeating themselves to each staff member they interact with.
By ensuring that all people involved in an older person’s care are informed about the person’s condition, needs, goals and preferences, the workforce will be able to coordinate their care in a way that improves outcomes for all parties involved (ACQSC 2023).
On the other hand, if the information is not effectively communicated between staff, care mistakes and, in severe cases, harm to care recipients, can occur. As well as being detrimental to those in your care, this can also lead to reduced trust in the care team and additional stress for staff (AHRQ 2017).
In order to effectively transfer information between members of the care team, sound internal communication processes and information management systems are required within the organisation (ACQSC 2023).
There is no single universal process that all aged care providers must follow, but it’s important that the method chosen by the organisation is efficient and appropriate (ACQSC 2023).
Standard 3: Care and Services - Outcome 3.3: Communicating for safety and quality under the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards requires aged care organisations to implement a communication system for effectively and promptly relaying care information about older people to relevant staff, family, carers, and health professionals (ACQSC 2024a).
Information about an older person should be communicated between members of the care team when:
(ACQSC 2024a)
Furthermore, there should also be processes implemented to:
(ACQSC 2024a)
Ensuring that all people involved in a particular person's care understand their condition, needs, goals and preferences has several benefits, including:
(ACQSC 2023; CareVision 2021)
Always remember to comply with relevant privacy legislation when gathering, using, storing and disclosing older people’s personal information (ACQSC 2024b).
You must also gain informed consent from older people before sharing their information with others (ACQSC 2024b).
More information about privacy and consent can be found in the Ausmed Articles below:
Teamwork is a crucial part of effective communication and is associated with positive care outcomes.
The following four components of teamwork have been found to reduce errors in care:
(Health.vic 2015)
Other important principles of teamwork include:
(Health.vic 2015; ACSQHC 2021)
(ACQSC 2023)
In order to deliver safe and effective care, aged care organisations need to ensure that information about an older person’s condition, needs, goals, and preferences is effectively communicated between members of the care team as well as other parties that share responsibility for the person’s care.
This will prevent older people in your care from constantly needing to remind staff of their needs, as well as reduce the risk of mistakes and harm from occurring.
Question 1 of 3
Which one of the following can facilitate effective communication and prevent errors in aged care?