Hospital Talk for Android

11 things about Hospital Talk

1. The three talking pages enable people to communicate: basic care needs (Basic Needs), information needs (Info Needs), and social closeness (Social Needs).

2. It is based on the doctoral research of Dr Bronwyn Hemsley on hospital care and communication for patients with severe communication impairment.

3. Acknowledgements: The authors thank and acknowledge all of the family carers, adults with communication disability, and paid carers taking part in the original research; and Professor Susan Balandin and Professor Leanne Togher, Dr Hemsley’s doctoral research advisers.

4. Hospital Talk is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication app as it turns an iPhone into a talking communication aid for use in hospital and long-term residential care.

5. Hospital Talk has large buttons with pictures on three pages that have pre-recorded messages about care in hospital.

6. If the user wants to return to the synthesised speech male or female voices, the app resets to the default pictures and pre-set messages on the Social Needs.

7. The Social Needs page is good for having a chat, talking about feelings, and asking to talk to a caregiver.

8. Hospital Talk TM is an app to help hospital patients with communication difficulties to get their message across to staff and carers.

9. Credits: Hospital Talk App was designed and developed by Shamus Smith (University of Newcastle [UON]) in collaboration with @BronwynHemsley (University of Technology Sydney [UTS]).

10. The Info Needs page enables people to ask questions about care, test results, going home, and seeing the doctor.

11. The Basic Needs page helps people to convey “yes” “no" "hunger or thirst” “comfort” “pain" and “bathroom”.