Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2025
SECONDs Administration Guidelines: A Fast Tool to Assess Consciousness in Brain-injured Patients
Published on: February 6, 2021
Assessment of communicative competence in adult patients with minimum response in intensive care units: A scoping
Ana Pinto1, Mariely Lima1, João Lindo Simões2
1School of Health Sciences (ESSUA), University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
Background:
Few formal instruments exist to assess the communicative competence of patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs). This can limit interventions by health professionals.
Aims:
To map the categories and instruments for assessing the communicative competence of adult patients with minimal response in ICUs.
Methods & Procedures:
A scoping review was carried out following the Joanna Briggs Institute protocol between February and March 2022 and using the MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, Scielo, Business Source Complete (via EBSCOhost), Academic Search Complete (via EBSCOhost) and Web of Science databases, in Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Main Contribution:
Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. The different communication and pain assessment protocols covered awareness, cognition, sensory capacity, motor capacity, language, speech and literacy.
Conclusions & Implications:
The present review offers a starting point for the construction of a formal assessment instrument to enable clinicians to implement an augmentative or alternative communication system (AACS) for the voluntary, independent and active participation of patients.
What This Paper Adds:
What is already known on the subject Patients in ICUs are subject to various forms of treatment and continuous and intensive monitoring, compromising their capacity to communicate and actively participate (e.g., sharing symptoms and making decisions). Although there is some awareness of their disadvantage in such a regard, few protocols of assessment of communicative competence have been adapted to patients with a minimum response. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge The present review highlights different protocols for the assessment of communication and pain. They include the following categories: awareness, sensory capacity, auditory and visual acuity, positioning and motor capacity, language, speech, and literacy. The review offers a starting point for the construction of a formal assessment instrument encompassing the aforementioned categories, along with duly validated guidelines for its application. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Our formal assessment instrument takes into account the need to adapt to different patient profiles. It is hoped that it will provide speech therapists and other health professionals with the information required to implement an AACS in which patients participate actively.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:21Barriers to Effective Communication II
Cultural barriers:
Differences in values, beliefs, religion, knowledge, and tradition can significantly impact communication. Awareness of nonverbal cues is critical, especially when conversing with a patient from a different culture. What appears appropriate in one culture may be inappropriate in another.
Semantic barriers:
As a result of their tendency to use...
01:23Assessment of Respiration
Subjective Assessment: Nurses interview the patient to gather information directly during the subjective assessment. It includes questions about the individual's medical history, medications, and symptoms, focusing on past respiratory conditions like...
01:30Therapeutic Communication
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...
01:30Assessment of Airway, Skin Color, and Use of Accessory Muscles
Introduction
The initial evaluation of a patient's respiratory system...
01:19Respiratory Assessment: Purpose and Indications
Objectives and Importance:
The primary goal of respiratory assessment is to evaluate patients at early risk of clinical deterioration. Since respiratory distress often precedes other signs of declining health, breathing patterns and sounds become a...
01:29Levels of Communication I: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Small Group
We can participate in these relationships through verbal, nonverbal, and mediated communication. We engage in verbal communication when we use words during our interaction to convey specific meanings. On the other hand, nonverbal communication refers to various factors that can impact how we understand each other—for example, facial expressions.
We interact with others using mediated technologies like the...