PP-29 Evaluation of the consideration and documentation of patient communication needs on admission to hospice environment

<h3>Introduction</h3> Recognition of communication needs is an important and overlooked aspect of clinical care. Without recognition of communication issues, we cannot overcome communication barriers. Communication barriers can have significant impact on patient-centred care, which is at the core of palliative care. The hospice has a pre-existing form within admission paperwork where communication needs are documented. <h3>Aims</h3> Evaluate the documentation of communication needs on admission to the hospice within the pre-existing documentation. <h3>Methods</h3> Retrospective data collection from a four-week period of admissions to the hospice (n=13). On re-evaluation, further retrospective data collection of a four-week period (n=10) <h3>Results</h3> Data showed 7.7% of patients had their communication needs documented fully within this template within 24 hours of admission, falling below expected standards. These were completed solely by the nursing team. On discussion with the nursing team, most patients did not have additional needs therefore documentation was felt unnecessary, and on discussion with the medical team, there was a lack of awareness of the process. Education sessions were held for nursing and medical teams, and communications needs were added to the medical handover to highlight importance of recognising and documenting communication needs. On re-evaluation after intervention, documentation improved to 40% with equal division of completion between medical and nursing teams. This demonstrated the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to improve and standardise completion. However, completion was still below the target. Further interventions have been put in place and are under evaluation, including creation of a clear educational poster for all staff. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Consideration and documentation of communications needs should be considered by all clinical staff. Education sessions and adjustment of parallel paperwork improved documentation. However further work is required for standardisation of documentation and evaluation of communication needs in order to improve patient care. <h3>Impact</h3> Improvement in consideration and documentation of communication needs.