Conferences & Events

Session One: Using Interprofessional Practices to Promote Communication Access

Interprofessional education and collaborative practice are the highest standard of care for healthcare workers. Today’s healthcare professionals must be skilled at successful collaborative communication, ethical practice, understanding professional roles and responsibilities and serving effectively on healthcare teams. One example of interprofessional education and collaborative practice includes providing communication access for all patients. Communication breakdowns between patients and healthcare professionals are frequently exacerbated in the presence of communication disorders, yet this barrier is almost never addressed during discussions of communication mandate.

This presentation will discuss interprofessional education and practice, policies related to communication access, the different presentations and severities of communication disorders including aphasia, and suggestions for healthcare teams to maximize patient safety and enhance health outcomes.

Session Two: Working Together to Create Communication Access: Tools & Strategies

This presentation will focus on communication access, and the centrality of providing accessible health care services to people who 'know more than they can say'. All health care providers need appropriate communication tools to enable them to provide the highest level of service to these patients. Presenters will provide information on basic tools and strategies that can be easily implemented to enable communication access.