Every Child’s Voice Matters: Embedding Inclusive Communication in Paediatric Care

Pirithika Kohilathas

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, UK

Biography :

Pirithika Kohilathas, is a final year medical student at King’s College London with interests in paediatrics, cardiology and med­ical education. She has complet­ed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in cardiology, where she explored the intersection of artificial intel­ligence and patient-centred care through her dissertation, along­side developing a strong foun­dation in cardiovascular science. She is currently involved in ‘My Voice Matters’, a project led by Dr Claire Stewart that aims to im­prove communication in paedi­atric consultations by integrating visual aids into clinical practice. Through this initiative, she has supported fellow medical stu­dents in developing more inclu­sive and effective approaches to communicating with children. As an aspiring clinician, she is in­terested in advocating for young patients and strengthening com­munication training within under­graduate medical education.

Abstract :

Background: Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) guarantees every child’s voice, but this must go beyond just hearing what a child says. All too often clinical communication relies on spoken language, exclud­ing pre-verbal, non-speaking, non-English-speaking and silenced children. This project aimed to address these ineq­uities by exploring applying established practices in speech and language of alternative communication methods to paediatrics

Methods: A systematic literature review identified more than 20,000 papers on the benefits of alternative communication but only 4 on its practical application in paediatric clinical conversations. A communication toolkit ‘My Voice Matters’ was co-designed with 126 London schools and safeguarding teams from 26 NHS trusts to promote accessible, child-cen­tred participation in child protection assessments. Commu­nication stations with co-designed tailored tools for clinical conversations were introduced across a children’s hospital including emergency department, inpatient wards and 2 community child health clinics.

Results: Existing evidence and pilot data demonstrate visual communication tools empower children to share experienc­es and understand clinicians’ perspectives. In the first three months, My Voice Matters enabled eight children to disclose previously unreported abuse and nearly doubled documen­tation of the child’s voice. In hospital settings, children re­porting not being heard fell from 9% to 0%, while staff use of alternative communication rose from 17% to 96%.

Conclusions: Child-centred communication tools make chil­dren’s rights a clinical reality; improving safeguarding, equity and care quality. Having tailored communication aids readily available should be a universal standard in paediatric set­tings.