Do we Meet the Social and Cultural Needs of Clients During an Acute Event?

Introduction
Social and cultural barriers impact the experience and outcomes of acute cardiac and stroke care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Whilst clinical protocols during an acute event are well established, there is an absence of protocols to ensure social and cultural needs of clients are met. Improving the accessibility to and quality of transfer and retrieval services can improve the entire patient journey The aim was develop a protocol to identify and support patient social and cultural needs, and translate this into acute care pathways and procedures.
Method
Barriers to care during transfer and retrieval stages, and approaches to address these, were identified by a multi-agency leadership group of clinical and Aboriginal health managers and community members in South Australia. A scoping review of existing research was undertaken. A protocol was developed identifying and providing approaches to meet key social and cultural aspects of care. Work was undertaken with health system managers and clinicians to implement the protocol into existing care pathways and procedures.
Results
The protocol identified twelve aspects of care which should be provided to meet the social and cultural needs of patients. Consultation was undertaken with key providers to identify approaches to integrate the protocol into existing practice. Impact is being measured on a service and state-wide level.
Discussion
The protocol has been integrated into cardiac and stroke clinical pathways in South Australia. Meeting the social and cultural needs of Aboriginal patients during an acute event has benefits extending to in-hospital and ongoing care.