Purpose: Establishing services for hospitalized patients with complex communication needs (CCNs) requires identifying and addressing both patient-based and institutional barriers. Although the previous paper (Marshall & Hurtig, 2019) focused on patient-based barriers, this paper addresses overcoming institutional barriers.
Method: We present a series of cases to illustrate the institutional challenges in meeting the CCNs of patients in an acute care setting.
Results: Each case illustrates how the deployment of augmentative and alternative communication tools required addressing institutional/systems barriers and how critical collaborations help patients with CCNs to more effectively communicate with caregivers and participate in their care.
Conclusion: Building a culture of improved patient-provider communication involves establishing a wider range of interprofessional collaborations and shared resources in order to effectively provide patients with CCNs the tools to summon assistance and communicate with their caregivers.