Client Care and Communication in Health Settings
Person-centred care
Client care in Australian health and community services is grounded in person-centred practice: the person's needs, preferences, values and goals guide care. Know the concepts of dignity, privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, informed consent, and cultural safety, including respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and people from diverse backgrounds. Understand duty of care and the balance between protecting a person and respecting their choices.
Communication skills
- Verbal and non-verbal communication: tone, pace, body language, eye contact, and how these differ across cultures.
- Active listening: reflecting, paraphrasing, clarifying, summarising.
- Open and closed questions: open questions invite explanation; closed questions confirm facts.
- Communication barriers: hearing or vision impairment, language, cognitive impairment, pain, anxiety, or an unfamiliar environment.
- Working with interpreters and using aids such as hearing loops or communication boards.
- Reporting and documentation: objective, factual, timely, and within your role; use the clinical handover structure your workplace requires.
Scope of practice and escalation
Know your role boundaries. You report changes in condition to a registered nurse or supervisor; you do not diagnose or give clinical advice. Recognise and respond to signs of deterioration, pain, distress, or abuse and neglect, and know mandatory reporting obligations.
Traps
Questions often reward the option that asks the client rather than assuming. Another trap is choosing to reassure a client with clinical information beyond your role; the correct answer is usually to acknowledge, then report. Watch for options that breach confidentiality, such as discussing a client in a lift or with family without consent.
Rule of thumb
When a client expresses a concern, respond with acknowledgement, then escalate: listen, reassure within your role, and report.
Worked example
A client says they feel dizzy when standing. The assistant should assist them to sit safely, stay with them, and report the change promptly to the registered nurse, documenting objectively what was said and done.