Risk, Escalation and Information Sharing With Support Teams

  • 8 mins read
Risk, Escalation and Information Sharing With Support Teams
  • 8 mins read

Risk, Escalation and Information Sharing With Support Teams

Support workers have more frequent contact with patients than any other member of the team. That makes them valuable, and makes information sharing a live question, since they're not clinicians, the information is sensitive and the patient has opinions about who knows what.

Most arrangements work to one of two extremes: workers are told nothing and miss what they're looking at, or workers are told everything and they have to deal with history that the patient has not agreed to share.

The standard worth applying

Information travels only if it changes what the worker does. Practice-level facts, in, with handling instructions attached. Diagnostic history, formulation and past incidents that don't change the shift, out.

Where there is truly sensitive information that needs to be sent because it impacts practice, it is accompanied by handling instructions, who else has access, and who does not.

What a worker needs for risk

The changes that can be observed in this person, in the language of everyday observation.

What to expect while waiting, and when the response is an ambulance.

A number that answers, and an after-hours line.

Permission to escalate something that turns out to be nothing. That last one decides whether the system works. Once a worker calls and feels foolish, they stop calling, and you lose the review that could have started two days sooner.

Keep the boundary clear

Workers don't evaluate risk. They monitor for agreed indicators and escalate. Any framing that pushes them to judge how serious it is puts them and the patient at risk.

How this plays out in practice

Imagine one worker handed the complete history, and another given four observational indicators, an instruction sheet and a number. The second worker makes good decisions by week two. The first is still holding information she can't use.

Next steps

For one patient this week, write the four indicators, the holding instruction and the number. That is all the protocol actually is.

Connect Your Patient With Consistent Support. Workers hired through Support Network can start with your watch list and escalation line from the first shift.

About the Author

Michelle Flynn

Michelle Flynn

Head of Marketing & Innovation | Building Australia’s Connected Care Ecosystem | Support Network

Seasoned marketing and innovation leader with two decades of experience turning complex service organisations into growth engines. Currently Head of Marketing & Innovation at Support Network, where I am building Australia’s most connected disability and aged care ecosystem.
I lead the growth of Support Network’s national Partnership Program — a free, Australia-wide collaboration network that already connects trusted providers, Support Coordinators, plan managers, allied health and community organisations so that when the right opportunity arises, we know exactly who to call. [Read more]

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