Communication

S: The Alma street mental health clinic has 2 full time, 1 part time physiotherapy staff and 1 physiotherapy assistant. There are 4 wards with over 60 beds all together. This means that appropriate communication between the physiotherapy staff is very important. Every morning the staff meet for a handover on all the pts. This is good because all the pts use the same gym regardless of the ward they are on. So when a pt is in the gym and the physio looking after that pt is not there, the other physio staff know about the pt. There are several other instances where good communication is important and it adds to the efficiency and professionalism of the physio dept.

T: being a new face in the physio dept. it is important to work hard to learn the system that they use and be easily adaptable to fit in. the staff are working together every day and to have an added member can change the dynamics a bit. One of the big emphasizes is on communication, therefore my task was to show outstanding communication skills to maintain the standard of the physio dept. in this particular instance, I was in the gym by myself when a pt entered for some exercise. I knew who this pt was and had been given a handover on this pt at the start of the morning. This pt was now under my care so I had to make sure there were no particular measures to take into account.

A: with this being the case, I paged the physio who was looking after this pt. I knew this pt had recently been transferred from a locked ward. The physio informed me that this pt required an escort to leave the ward. I then called the nurse on that ward and informed them that the pt was in the gym. The nurse said that they hadn’t realized the pt had left and that this pt was at risk of absconding. She asked me to please escort the pt back onto the ward when they were finished. A simple act of good communication between the multi-disciplinary team had ensured safe and efficient practice.

R: the result in this case was a positive one. The pt was returned safely to the ward without any complications. In many instances pts leave the gym or the ward and become AWOL. This creates problems for the whole team. In an instance of doubt it is quite easy to communicate to prevent such measures or dramas from playing out. Both the nursing staff and physio looking after that pt thanked me for communicating effectively. This creates a good professional relationship with the whole team because it proves that you have a wide scope and are not just concerned with your role.

E: I believe in this instance I was an effective communicator. This was a fairly simple act so it doesn’t require much evaluation. However the things I believe I did that made it effective were –
• I was composed and didn’t elevate the situation by over reacting.
• I was friendly and had previously made myself known to the staff on the wards so they knew who I was.
• I made sure the gym was not left unattended when I was escorting the pt back to the ward.
• I allowed the pt to exercise and the returned them to the ward and made sure the nursing staff knew the pt was back.

S: Some tips to ensure that these situations are easily resolved include –
• Making sure you know the phone numbers for the wards.
• Knowing the pts by name and by face.
• Having a good back-round knowledge of the pts.
• Being pro-active and acting upon any element of doubt just to be on the safe side.
• De-elevating any drama by being very casual and explaining to the pt that you will walk with them back to the ward and explain that they must let someone know when leaving the ward.