Abstract: Objective To improve communication between patients with communication disorders and their health care providers.Methods A communication training session and a communication toolkit for health care workers in long-term care facilities(L-TCFs)were used before.A control group and experimental group were used to assess the effectiveness of the communication training and a toolkit.Results and Conclusion There was little benefit to the training and toolkit.However,anecdotal observations showed there were some benefits,especially with the increased use of amplifiers for patients with hearing impairment.In addition,the L-TCF is inherent with structural obstacles to successful communication that need to be taken into account when interpreting the results.More research is needed in this area.

Key words: communication disorder, health care, communication training, communication toolkit