Medical Encounters Board

Medical encounters are fraught with communication pitfalls, and, for patients who have temporarily lost the ability to speak, or speak a foreign language, or have a pre-existing condition limiting their communication capabilities, these pitfalls can be multiplied many times. Such patients need to have communication supports at the ready if and when they are not provided with adequate supports during medical encounters.

To help provide an easy-to-use and readily available resource for patients with communication vulnerabilities facing medical interactions, the Central Coast Children’s Foundation surveyed experts (physicians, speech therapists, occupational therapists, etc.) in several countries who regularly work with such patients, in order to identify some of the  most important phrases that patients wish to convey during medical visits, in emergency rooms, and in related health settings.  

The following materials are the result of an extensive effort to make these phrases accessible and useful to a wide audience of people navigating medical communication interactions.

The Medical Encounter Board is available in two sizes,A4 and letter size, and two different styles of layout.