麻豆直播

A new 麻豆直播 study has found that there is an urgent need to develop and implement strategies to empower Aboriginal families to identify deteriorating health in their child and alert clinicians.

The research, published in Pediatric Nursing, explored the perspective of family members of Aboriginal children to see if they could recognise, and respond to, health deterioration in a hospital setting.

Lead researcher, Associate Professor Fenella Gill from Curtin鈥檚 School of Nursing, said it was hoped the study results would lead to the development of a culturally secure escalation system.

鈥淧revious research has indicated that there are higher rates of hospital mortality for Aboriginal children, including due to failures in escalation of care, therefore it is vital to address these barriers,鈥� Associate Professor Gill said.

鈥淲e found there were many barriers impacting Aboriginal families鈥� ability to escalate care, including gaps in health knowledge, literacy and communication, which disempowered many from being actively involved in their child鈥檚 health care.

鈥淧revious research has indicated that there are higher rates of hospital deaths in Aboriginal children, including deaths due to failures in escalation of care, therefore it is vital to address these barriers.鈥�

Associate Professor Gill said that limited health knowledge played a large part in the difficulty for Aboriginal families to judge whether their child鈥檚 condition was serious or deteriorating.

鈥淲e found that posters with a lot of imagery were vital visual cues to encourage family members to speak up and were more engaging if they included a cultural connection and simplified language.鈥�

鈥淚n addition, we found that family members would raise the alarm if clinicians took the time to build rapport and invited families to speak up. This is because many families feel they should not question medical staff.鈥�

Associate Professor Gill said further work must be done to address cultural gaps in a healthcare setting to ensure effective communication with people from diverse backgrounds.

鈥淲e already know there are communication barriers between healthcare professionals and their families. This is further amplified when the patient and treating professional are of different cultural backgrounds,鈥� Associate Professor Gill said.

鈥淭o address this, staff training should include deeper cultural awareness and hospitals should upgrade culturally aware posters, videos, guides and other communication assets.鈥�

The full paper, titled ‘Aboriginal perspectives on recognising clinical deterioration in their child and communicating concerns to clinicians’, is available .