Communication pathways in community aged care: an Australian study.
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.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the roles of community-based practitioners in communication of older clients' information in an Australian context.


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
School of Nursing & Midwifery, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia. jacqui.allen@deakin.edu.au
Jacqui
J
Allen
Goetz
G
Ottmann
Rhonda
R
Brown
Bodil
B
Rasmussen
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D019090:Case Management; D003142:Communication; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010351:Patient Discharge; D036301:Qualitative Research