A Simple Way to Make AT Reports Clearer (and Easier for NDIS Planners to Follow)

When I teach my team about writing assistive technology  reports, there’s one thing I always come back to:
set your outcome measures early and then use them to guide the whole report.

A lot of OTs keep outcome measures in their head (e.g. “this wheelchair needs to fit through the front door”). But if we don’t write them down and use them consistently, the report can end up all over the place.

Here’s what I want you to picture: an NDIS planner or delegate reading your report. They’re likely dealing with lots of different requests (not just AT), various disability (not just your clients) and they’re short on time, and we know there’s a high turnover in that role. I couldn't imagine the stress they're under and here they are making an integral decision about your clients needs. They need to make sure your AT report meets 34.1 and has adequate clinical justification. They’re not living and breathing wheelchairs like we are, they don't know the client like we do; If we want them to follow our reasoning, we need to make it easy. We need to reduce their cognitive load.

I do a lot of things to help my reports, but one thing I think is integral to AT reports is: When writing their NDIS participant’s goals. List the outcome measures that will enable achievement of these goals. It needs to be clear and upfront on what outcomes will achieve the barriers we are currently experiencing. We need to write what we naturally address as clinicians in the appointment. 

Example: To achieve these NDIS goals we need to: 1) improve postural alignment, 2) access indoor and outdoor environments 3) be able to travel in Maxi Taxi etc. etc 

I know this seems simple to us, but it's highlighting that we are looking for a piece of AT that meets all these needs, and that we've thought about these processes, whilst painting a picture in the readers mind about what we need to achieve.

Then (important) thread those measures through the whole report with the same language:

• Talk about the participant’s functional barriers, link them to an outcome measure.

• When you talk about trialled equipment, tie the AT feature back to an outcome measure.

• When you get to “reasonable and necessary”  use the outcome measures.

  • eg. This is value for money as the wheelchair fits through doorways as per outcome measure 2. This means we don't need to widen each doorway in the home to accommodate the wheelchair.

• When you cite best practice, connect it back to those measures.

Another example:

A T feature: Dreamline STX with an obliquity insert will improve postural alignment (outcome measure 1) by aligning the pelvis.

It keeps your reasoning clean, your language consistent, and makes it so much easier for the reader to follow. They don’t have to decode your clinical reasoning as you’ve done the work for them.

Don’t just think outcome measures. Write them, anchor your whole report to them, and let them lead the planner through your clinical reasoning.

Until next time,

Imogen

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