FASD Informed Multi-disciplinary Clinical Team

Oct 1

3 min read

A practical clinical overview for urgent, emergency, acute and critical care teams supporting children, young people and adults with prenatal alcohol exposure or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

In urgent and critical care, communication can be rapid, unfamiliar and high stakes. For a person with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), who is “at risk of” or has confirmed Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), neurodevelopmental differences may affect how information is understood, remembered and acted upon.

This Stage 1 course gives clinical teams a clear, safeguarding-focused foundation for recognising those vulnerabilities and adapting communication and care from first contact.

Course overview

This introductory course explores the possible neurodevelopmental effects of PAE and the breadth of presentation associated with FASD. It supports clinicians to look beyond apparent non-compliance, inconsistency or a fluent verbal presentation and consider how working memory, processing speed, executive functioning, adaptive functioning, sensory needs and stress may affect engagement with assessment, treatment and discharge planning.

Particular attention is given to suggestibility, acquiescence, confabulation, verbal masking and fluctuating functional ability. Participants consider why a person may agree without understanding, provide an answer to fill a memory gap, repeat language they have heard, or appear more capable than they are. The course links these risks to proportionate mental-capacity practice, consent, information gathering, documentation, reasonable adjustment and safeguarding decision-making.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to

Describe PAE, “at risk of” FASD and confirmed FASD within a clinical context.
Recognise common communication, memory, executive-functioning and adaptive-functioning vulnerabilities.
Identify how stress, sensory load, pain, fatigue and an unfamiliar environment may reduce a person’s ability to process and respond.
Use clear, concrete and non-leading communication, allowing additional processing time and checking understanding without relying on “Do you understand?”
Recognise suggestibility, acquiescence, confabulation and verbal masking, and reduce the risk of inaccurate histories or unsafe assumptions.
Approach decision-specific mental-capacity assessment without equating verbal fluency, compliance or a correct answer with understanding.
Make practical adjustments to assessment, consent, treatment, transfer and discharge processes.
Record communication needs, support used and safeguarding concerns clearly for onward teams.
Recognise and reduce factors that may contribute to leaving against medical advice (AMA), self-discharge or abruptly leaving without notifying staff - sometimes documented as elopement or absconding.

What this means to multi-disciplinary clinical teams?

Using realistic urgent-care scenarios, the course helps teams translate FASD-informed principles into immediate clinical practice: reducing language and environmental load; asking one concrete question at a time; avoiding leading or repeated questioning; separating recall from understanding; involving a trusted supporter appropriately; and using photographic visual, written or demonstration-based prompts where helpful.

Participants explore how these adjustments can improve the reliability of assessment, reduce avoidable escalation, early discharge and support safer transitions between ambulance, A&E, ICU, wards and community services.

The course also considers how clear explanations, predictable next steps, reduced waiting uncertainty, early recognition of overwhelm and proportionate support may reduce the risk of leaving against medical advice (AMA), self-discharge or abruptly leaving without notifying staff - sometimes documented as elopement or absconding.

Safeguarding and mental capacity

People with FASD may be especially vulnerable when they are frightened, in pain, separated from familiar support or asked to make rapid decisions. The course supports staff to notice when apparent agreement may reflect suggestibility or a wish to please, when recall may be unreliable under pressure, and when capacity should be explored with communication support and reduced cognitive demand. It reinforces a decision-specific, time-specific and evidence-based approach, alongside local mental-capacity, consent and safeguarding procedures.

Who this course is for

ICU and A&E nurses, doctors, advanced clinical practitioners, healthcare assistants, allied health professionals, safeguarding leads, learning-disability and autism liaison practitioners, patient-experience teams, discharge coordinators and other staff involved in urgent or critical care. This course can also be tailored to other NHS departments and holds best practice standard.

Progression to higher-level learning

This Stage 1 course provides the essential foundation for progression to higher-level FASD learning. It establishes a shared clinical language and core understanding that can be developed through more advanced training in assessment, formulation, decision-making, safeguarding, service pathways and the consistent application of FASD-responsive practice.

Delivery

FASD Informed™ education is delivered by an experienced, qualified team and can be tailored to your service, pathway and local safeguarding context. Sessions can incorporate the situations your staff encounter, while maintaining confidentiality and a clear Stage 1 focus.

Professional Note: This introductory Stage 1 course is not a diagnostic-pathway course and does not qualify participants to assess or diagnose FASD. For learning focused on diagnostic pathways, assessment and more advanced clinical practice, please see our other courses.

Booking and additional support

To discuss your team’s needs, request a tailored proposal or reserve placeholder diary dates, please email info@fasdinformed.co.uk

Additional support is available through consultation, pathway review and follow-up training for services seeking to embed FASD-responsive practice across urgent and critical care.