Program (for reg)

Implementing best practice management of patients presenting with disorders of consciousness post-acquired brain injury

Tracks

Concurrent session M2

Acquired brain injury/traumatic brain injury (ABI/TBI)

Acute care – adult

Adult

Collaboration

Quality improvement

Monday, May 27, 2024

11:30 AM - 11:45 AM

Meeting Room 01

Overview

Emma Murton

Details

⏫ In-practice
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)

Presenter

Ms Emma Murton

Senior Speech Pathologist

The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Implementing best practice management of patients presenting with disorders of consciousness post-acquired brain injury

11:30 AM - 11:45 AM

Presentation summary

The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) is a major provider of care to the acquired brain injury population, including patients presenting with disorders of consciousness (DoC). Despite RMH Speech Pathology (SP) and Occupational Therapy (OT) departments having a long history of caring for patients with DoC, management practices were known to be inconsistent and lacking a strong evidence base. This prompted the formation of a passionate multidisciplinary project team with the aims of optimising DoC management and improving multidisciplinary clinicians’ knowledge, confidence and skill in this area of practice. Surveys were completed by RMH allied health and nursing staff to evaluate existing levels of knowledge and confidence with managing the DoC population. A targeted literature review was performed to identify the best available evidence and benchmarking with hospitals in Australia and the U.K. was completed to capture current clinical practices.Results: RMH staff survey results revealed average confidence in DoC management and confusion between DoC and post-traumatic amnesia management principles amongst nursing staff. Poor knowledge of the evidence was the most commonly reported limiting factor, with 68% of all staff reporting that they did not know what constituted best practice management of this population. The results of the literature review were combined with the benchmarking data to develop an RMH clinical guideline and sensory stimulation booklet, a resource consumer-reviewed by family members of patients presenting with DoC. The guideline and resource were rolled out as part of staff education sessions in August 2023. After a six-month pilot, a file audit will be completed to assess guideline compliance and surveys will be repeated to measure changes in staff knowledge and confidence. Final results, conclusions and valuable learnings will be available for presentation at the conference.

Key messages

1. Ideas/ways to improve their own management of patients with DoC
2. Current best practice management of DoC
3. Benefits and challenges of implementing a multidisciplinary project

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Emma is a senior speech pathologist working within the trauma unit at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). Emma is passionate about working with patients with traumatic brain injury in the acute setting and providing person-centred, holistic care within the multidisciplinary team. Emma has worked on the trauma and neurosurgery units at The RMH for over 6 years and regularly sees individuals presenting with disorders of consciousness as part of her clinical caseload.

Session chair

Deborah Hersh

Professor, Speech Pathology

Curtin University

Student volunteer(s)

Eddie Carey

Curtin University

Tanvi Patel

Curtin University

The information contained in this program is current at of the time of publishing but is subject to changes made without notice.

Disclaimer: © (2024) The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. All rights reserved.
Important Notice, please read: The views expressed in this presentation and reproduced in these materials are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by, The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited ("the Association"). The Association makes no warranty or representation in relation to the content, currency or accuracy of any of the materials comprised in this presentation. The Association expressly disclaims any and all liability (including liability for negligence) in respect of use of these materials and the information contained within them. The Association recommends you seek independent professional advice prior to making any decision involving matters outlined in this presentation including in any of the materials referred to or otherwise incorporated into this presentation.

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