Skip to main content Skip to left navigation Skip to search

Home > Our Work > Clinical Communications

The Clinical Communications program works within key areas of clinical communication known to influence quality and safety outcomes throughout the patient journey.

The program will focus initially on two main streams of work; building on the existing Clinical Handover stream and a adding a new focus to Patient-Clinician Communication. Clinical Communications will continue to evolve in future years. The ACSQHC is committed to address other high risk areas of communication as the need arises.

Clinical Handover

The ACSQHC launched the Clinical Handover program in 2007 to improve handover communication across a range of healthcare settings. Integral to the Clinical Handover program was the National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program, which included funding for fourteen public and private sector organisations to develop and pilot a range of tools for handover improvement. The National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program was externally evaluated in 2010. The evaluation found that the Pilot Program has significantly increased the evidence base surrounding clinical handover and has created momentum and spread for handover improvement in Australia.

The ACSQHC will continue to focus attention on clinical handover as a stream of the Clinical Communications program by consolidating handover improvement through promotion of the tools for handover improvement and by expanding the work to focus new attention on handover during patient transitions of care.

The Clinical Handover program has released several publications, resources and education tools to assist with clinical handover improvement.

Clinical Handover Improvement Resources:

• Implementation Toolkit for Clinical Handover Improvement and Resource Portal
• The OSSIE Guide to Clinical Handover Improvement
• Electronic Discharge Summary Systems Self-Evaluation Toolkit

Additional resources:

• National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program
• Safety and Quality Evaluation of Electronic Discharge Summary Systems
• External Evaluation of the National Clinical Handover Initiative Pilot Program
• Evidence-based Literature Reviews on Clinical Handover
• Medical Journal of Australia, Clinical Handover: Critical Communications

Patient-Clinician Communication

The Patient-Clinician Communication stream is a new area of work for the Commission and will focus on communication between patients and clinicians across the patient journey. The program will use a patient-centred approach to improving communication by enhancing the patients’ role in clinical communication, decision making, advocacy and self determination, to facilitate safety and quality outcomes. The stream will aim to ensure that effective, reliable and appropriate use of communication occurs between patients, carers, community health services and clinicians.

The first phase of this work includes examining patient stories to gain a greater understanding of patient experiences of safety and quality. Further information will be made available about this stream as work progresses.

Additional information

• Clinical handover presentations
• External links

Contact

Dr Suellen Allen
Program Manager
(02) 9126 3581

Lisa Wallis
Project Officer
(02) 9126 3632

Email: clinical.handover@safetyandquality.gov.au

Updated: 25 October, 2011

top of page