33^rd Euro Nursing & Medicare Summit

Biography

Biography: Johnson J M

Abstract

An implication for an individual with impaired communication skills is an assumption by health care team members regarding the capacity to make decisions. This assumption might lead to a restriction in the patient’s participation in the decision-making process. Two primary impairments that might affect the ability to participate in decision-making are aphasia and cognitive deficits. Although decision-making capacity might be present in persons with aphasia, there appears to be limitations and a person with aphasia’s ability to participate in the process within the healthcare team is impaired. Medical decision-making is complex and requires a reciprocal dialogue. Health care team members must be familiar with and open to communicating with an individual in a manner appropriate to the adult’s skills and abilities, including alternate methods of communication to complement written words. This work began with a review of the literature and was built upon using a constructionist framework. This narrative review will attempt to outline the difficulties with participating in decision-making when a person is unable to verbally provide consent. It will also describe ways to assess executive function in the capacity to make decisions, highlight the importance of family in the decision-making process, look at ways to encourage decision-making when there is no family present and lastly, elucidate the necessity for a continued interprofessional collaborative approach to care for patients who have aphasia.