CONVERSATIONS 1

2018 CONFERENCE REPORT

CONVERSATIONS

ABOUT CARE

CONFERENCE

2018

IDEAS, OUTCOMES AND STRATEGIES

www.wheremindmeetsmouth.com.au

2 CONVERSATIONS CONVERSATIONS 3

OBJECTIVES

1. Facilitate communications and conversations between consumers and health professionals.

2. Improve the transfer of relevant consumer information between health professonals for improved and integrated care.

3. Gain a deeper understanding of traditional domains of varied consumer groups and health professions.

4. Exploring opportunities for collaboration.

CONTENTS

* 3 OBJECTIVES

* 4 COMMUNICATION IS KEY

* 6 - 7 CONSUMER PARTNERSHIPS

* 8 - 9 COMMUNICATION TRAINING

* 10 COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SERVICES

* 11 - 13 CONSUMERS AS CHANGE-MAKERS

* 14 - 16 EVENT RECAP

* 17 THE SPEAKERS

* 18 SPONSORS

Dr Rachel Martin Founding Organiser and Program Chair

Conversations About Care is the third healthcare conference hosted by North Richmond Community Health. We created this conference as an incubator for change in the way we work with our communities to improve their health outcomes.

This year a diverse group of delegates and speakers from a range of backgrounds gathered to address the importance of consumer-centred care. We engaged and empowered consumers by inviting them to share their experiences with healthcare. We were inspired by the stories from young Harvey Owen, a boy who has spent his life in and out of surgery, and other brave consumers.

It was clear that consumers were not the only ones who needed empowerment. There was an equal need for healthcare professionals to be supported. The balance between clinical expertise, a practitioner’s experience and a consumer’s experience needs to change.

A clinician is more than their health expertise and a consumer is more than their health condition. Our professional silos do not reflect the level of care and support consumers and healthcare professionals deserve.

Communication is an essential factor in the equation leading to collaborative care and better health outcomes. By improving our communication, we can improve partnerships and integrated services. We can also utilise communication to find the funding needed to support collaborative care initiatives.

Communication is key

6 Consumer Partnerships Consumer Partnerships 7

Delegates emphasised the importance of two-way conversations between the healthcare professional and consumer.

CONSUMER PARTNERSHIPS

“See the person, not the disabil ity

or condition”

- John Mckenna, Disabil i ty Consumer

Advocate

Each partnership between a health professional and consumer is unique and evolvingIn a partnership, it is important for a health professional to understand how the consumer views their healthcare journey. How does the consumer’s health condition impact other parts of their lives? Some consumers may not want to be labelled by medical terms and conditions, refusing to let them define who they are as a person. Other consumers find their medical labels provide beneficial structure to their lives.

When it comes to care plans, some consumers can feel more empowered by being more actively involved in decision-making. Conference speaker Rachel Callander referred to a poignant moment in which her child’s surgeon told her, “Just because we can do the invasive surgery, it doesn’t mean we should. Whatever you decide, it won’t be wrong.”

By involving the consumer and respecting their views, health professionals can help to build trust in the partnership. Each consumer has differing levels of needs and engagement in the partnership and these will change over time. Recognising this is essential to producing better health outcomes.

Listening and asking open questionsA lack of active listening and asking open questions can lead to the wrong diagnosis or inefficient care plans. Health professionals need to continually check-in with consumers to ensure information was being understood and all their questions were being answered.

Rachel Callander suggested a non-traditional set of questions to help a clinician learn information about a consumer, information that can clarify a consumer’s medical needs as well as their emotional needs, and health literacy level.

1. What are you proud of?

2. What do you hope for?

3. What are you afraid of?

- Rachel Callander’s non-traditional questions aim to build trust and a more holistic understanding of consumers.

8 Communication training Communication training 9

EPUIS DERIBUS EATESIN RA

VOLUPTA

“There is

usually an

underlying issue of poor

communication in health

complaints, even if it

isn’t the primary reason

for the complaint”

- Karen Cusack, Health

Complaints Commissioner

OPTIS QUE AS

Health LiteracyConsumers identified a common need for clarity from their health professionals.

The conference’s health literacy experts recommend health professionals assume all consumers have low health literacy. They should apply this assumption and the use of plain language to all interactions with consumers. This includes the creation of information resources for consumers, such as health brochures and wayfinding signage.

The importance of health literacy is heightened by consumers who have low literacy or do not speak english as their first language. Conference delegates argued that interpreter services are under-utilised in Australia.

“Effective

communication actually

saves t ime and

resources”

- Dr Jonathan

Si lverman, Deakin

University

Communication trainingCommunication between a clinician and consumer can emotionally affect the consumer and their carers. Dr Jonathan Silverman argues that understanding and exercising empathy and emotional cues can be taught and can significantly improve medical outcomes as well as efficiency.

Studies have found that a health professional’s empathy can have a significant effect on reducing the duration and patient reported severity of the common cold. Our consumer representatives supported this view, noting that a receptionist’s phone greeting can influence their attitudes towards using health services. This in turn impacts their health outcomes.

“Around 60 per cent of Australians have low

health literacy. Further, health literacy levels

can drop dramatically in times of stress.”

- Jolyon Burford, Centre for Culture, Ethnicity

and Health.

Empowering language and conversationsRachel Callander spoke of her experience with the healthcare system as a parent caring for her baby daughter. She inspired delegates to swap medical terms for empowering language. Unsurprisingly, a consumer’s emotions and stress level can be negatively affected by subjective, “deficit” words such as “abnormal”, “retarded”, “disabled”, “life-limiting” and “incompatible with life”. Instead, parents can find it more beneficial to use positive language like “perseverance” and “empowerment”.

Speaking to a consumer or their carer about their strengths and passions can build positive energy and provide a relief from the many conversations around care. These positive conversations can also help to build more trust between the consumer and clinician, which in turn can improve health outcomes.

Diagram from

Rachel Callander’s

‘Effective

Communication in

Healthcare’.

Learn more at:

www.rachelcallander.co

“

COMMUNICATION TRAINING

CONSUMERS AS CHANGE-MAKERS

10 Integrated communication between services What now? 11

Sharing our expertise

Integrated care

An overwhelming number of speakers and delegates identified the need for health professionals to stop working in silos.

A common stress identified by both consumers and health professionals is the need for consumers to repeat their health history to every clinician they see. By improving the sharing of confidentital health records between health professionals, we can alleviate stress and increase efficiency.

A limited emphasis on oral health care by other health professionals can prevent consumers from improving their overall health.

Dr George identified a need to build the capacity of healthcare providers to provide oral health promotional materials, training, screenings and referrals.

Greater confidential cross-communication and education will improve the experience of care for all.

“The dental profession

has been working in

silos for far too long. It’s

time to make oral health

everyone’s business. “

- Dr Ajesh George,

Western Sydney

WHAT NOW?

Doctors go from patient to patient. I don’t have

the support to do what I need to do. I have

patients in 15 minute intervals and do our notes

on lunch breaks and after work.

- Conference delegate, Doctor

Health professionals must have a greater understanding and knowledge of their colleagues’ traditional areas of health expertise. Doing so will build the capacity of all in the care partnership.

Dr Ajesh George identified a lack of communication between health professions as detrimental to consumer health. For example, dental conditions are the third highest cause of acute, potentially preventable hospitalisations.

“

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SERVICES

Diversity leads to new value

Equity leads to respect

Openness leads to trust

1 2

3Mutual benefit leads to committment

Courage leads to breakthrough

4

5- Catherine Morely, CEO at

Rural Northwest health

Getting partnerships right 13 12 Consumer as change-maker

CONSUMER AS

CHANGE-MAKER

Consumers are at the centre of all care. Without consumers there is no care.

Health professionals can empower consumers to have better healthcare experiences. In fact, this is mandated in our national health care quality system. Consumers must be heard, and health professionals, managers and policy makers must listen and build capacity.

Many consumer advocates work unfunded to improve outcomes for others. Consumers are at the core of a health centre’s business and should be valued. Through supportive partnerships with health centres and health professionals, consumers could also be their own advocates for appropriate remuneration.

Consumers hold the power - if we value and support them, they can drive the change that is needed.

Catherine Morely, CEO at Rural Northwest Health, highlighted the importance of getting partnership right. Partnerships should involve a diverse group who have equal rights, feel comfortable presenting their ideas, share mutual benefits from the partnership, and have the courage to implement innovative change.

Getting partnerships right

Opening the conversation 15

2 DAYS 32 SPEAKERS

#CareConvo2018 #CareConvo18

OPENING THE CONVERSATION

Event recap

Twitter snapshot

16 Feedback from delegates Speakers 17

“The topics are quite diverse and cover a lot of ground. It has a great atmosphere

and its very well run.”

“It brings in a whole range of people you wouldn’t normally see and gives

perspectives you wouldn’t normally get.”

“It’s amazing. What is so rich is the huge array of different perspectives and

professionals. I find that’s quite unique actually in a health context to bring

together lots of different voices.”

“I’m really excited this conference exists. The more people are talking about

these issues and actually coming up with solutions.”

“It’s one of the few conferences where they’ve had such diverse people coming

together and giving their own perspective on what we need to address in care.

Ranging from ethics to the carer’s perspective and consumer experience and

what the key challenges we need to address.”

SPEAKERS

Ajesh George

Alison Coelho

Amanda (Mandy) Kenny

Andre Priede

Anisha Prasad

Catherine Morley

Chris Lemoh

Elizabeth Milford

Caroline Carroll

EllaCrotty

Eugenia Georgopoulos

Evelyn Boyce

Gordon Conochie

IoanJones

JennyWilkins

JodieHeap

JohnAitken

JohnMckenna

Dr JohnathanSilverman

JoylonBurford

KarenCusack

LucyMayes

LuluXu

NadiaChaves

NickyBarry

RachelCallander

Spase Veljanovski

Susan Alberti AC

Gabrielle Williams MP

Richard Wynne

MP

Feedback from delegates

18 Feedback from delegates Feedback from delegates 19

COMMITTING TO CHANGE

North Richmond Community Health commits to:

1. Facilitating communication and conversations in a range of ways with our consumers. This includes continuing our work establishing Goal Directed Care Plans (GDCP) as integral to consumer-centred care across the organisation.

2. Increasing our integration of services by improving referral processes and passing on relevant information with ease and confidentiality.

3. Working towards ensuring that we better understand other health services and how we could work together to provide better health outcomes.

We will work towards an integrated consumer journey of quality care both within North Richmond Community Health and with other health services.

4. Improving access to electronic patient management system across different health disciplines within North Richmond Community Health.

20 Feedback from delegates

Thank you to our partnersWe are grateful to our sponsors. These partnerships made this conference possible. Their dedication to

improving healthcare leads to real change.