Prevalence of patients requiring assistance to communicate their health care needs.

Effective communication is essential in health care. A restriction in the ability to communicate with health care providers can contribute to inappropriate care, difficulty participating in discharge planning, and in understanding written information. The aim of this project was to determine the prevalence of hospital patients who experience difficulty communicating their health care needs. Data was analysed using frequency distribution. The communication disability screener (CDS) was chosen to screen inpatients admitted on the rehabilitation geriatric and evaluation unit (GEM) and acute medical units. The CDS is a semi-structure interview survey that provides an overall evaluation of an individual's ability to independently communicate about their health care needs. Results indicated that 46% (GEM) and 66.6% (acute) of patients in a regional health service were unable to independently communicate with all hospital staff without any specialist assistance or support during their inpatient stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]