Hospital Communications

Would a parent-delivered programme of training for paediatric ward staff improve the effectiveness of communication with disabled children and their parents in hospitals?

Hospital admissions in children with neurodisability are common and it is therefore crucial that communication between staff and families is clear. Communication is particularly an issue for children with a learning disability or those who find social interaction difficult.

This study involved parents, clinicians and researchers co-developing and piloting a training package for health professionals to improve communication with children in hospital.

We reviewed existing research about factors affecting disabled children’s experience of being in hospital. The findings suggest that communication plays a critical role.

We completed a qualitative study with parents of children that had recently stayed in hospital, and with staff working on children’s wards. The findings identified barriers to effective communication, and also facilitating factors likely to improve communication.

We used the information from the review and qualitative study to develop training for health professionals. Parents from our Family Faculty were closely involved in the design and delivery of the training package. We worked with young people with learning disability at Exeter College to create a poster that provides 4 key tips for staff working on children’s wards to improve communication with disabled children.

The training has been delivered on five occasions, and refined each time based on feedback and reflections. Once we are satisfied with the training, we will document the content and delivery strategies in a manual to enable it to be replicated by others.

The research is funded by NIHR through PenCLAHRC and a grant from the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.

For more information, please get in touch.

Outputs

Sharkey, S., Lloyd, C., Tomlinson, R., Thomas, E., Martin, A., Logan, S. and Morris, C. (2016), Communicating with disabled children when inpatients: barriers and facilitators identified by parents and professionals in a qualitative study. Health Expect, 19: 738–750. doi:10.1111/hex.12254

Shilling, V., Edwards, V., Rogers, M. and Morris, C. (2012), The experience of disabled children as inpatients: a structured review and synthesis of qualitative studies reporting the views of children, parents and professionals. Child: Care, Health and Development, 38: 778–788. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2012.01372.x

NIHR PenCLAHRC has featured findings from PenCRU’s research aiming to improve communication with disabled children when they have to stay in hospital in a bite-sized summary.

We have also produced plain language summaries for each paper.