‘Being the bridge and the beacon’: a qualitative study of the characteristics and functions of the liaison role in child and family health services in Australia

Abstract

Nurses working with children and families are the most likely health professionals to undertake a liaison role. In many nursing contexts, liaison roles are relatively new and those in the role have the responsibility to define the key purpose of their role. Liaison roles are multifaceted requiring the nurse to have excellent communication and negotiation skills to effectively link diverse professionals and services, while simultaneously engaging with and supporting vulnerable families and children. Nurses in these roles also support and educate clinical colleagues.

Care Coordination for Vulnerable Families in the Sydney Local Health District: What Works for Whom, under What Circumstances, and Why?

“…Overall, trust and favourable interpersonal relations were found to be overarching mechanisms, under which secondary modes of intervention at client, provider and system levels emerged. The centrality of trust and favourable interpersonal relations as enablers of service engagement and provider motivation to collaborate has been confirmed in recent literature [21,40]. The findings from this study further develop such findings by suggesting that interpersonal dynamics should be seen as an organisational strength to be actively nurtured.…”

“…Despite long-standing Government commitment to integrated care and support for disadvantaged families in Australia, the evaluations of such programmes are limited [20,21]. Complex interventions such as HHAN contain several interacting components, a broad range of outcomes, and an inexplicit level of subjectivity by those implementing and receiving them, all of which act interdependently of each other [22].…”

Describing healthcare providers’ perceptions of relational practice with families in the emergency department: A qualitative study

“…Participants spoke of ED nurses’ facilitating family–doctor interactions. The notion of nurses as the family liaison is a frequent finding in the literature, with nurses seen as drivers in relating and connecting with families in the wider health sector (Misto 2014 ; Olley et al 2016 ). Whilst it is important to acknowledge the role played by ED nurses in supporting families cope with the complexities of the ED experience, the commitment of a multidisciplinary role to relational practice is necessary in improving healthcare outcomes.…”

Role of the dental hospital-based paediatric liaison nurse in safeguarding children

“…Beyond this, our findings will to be of interest to others who are looking for innovative ways of supporting safeguarding practice in dentistry and may want to consider implementing similar, perhaps prompted by new commissioning standards. 22 We found a wide variety of models of liaison nursing services described in the literature, including in mental health, intensive care, maternity and child health 23 and safeguarding, 24 but none for dentistry. To find out more we contacted 15 UK hospital paediatric dentistry units by email and received 14 replies.…”