Authors (including presenting author) :
Yeung KC(1), Lee SC(1), Sze YM(1), Woo LC(1), Chiu ST(1), Chan SF(1), Yu MS(1), Cheung CL(1), Yip WK(1), Wong HM(1), Ng KY(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Medicine and Geriatrics, Shatin Hospital
Introduction :
Dementia is commonly seen in older adult in Hong Kong. It is estimated that 11% of persons aged ≥60 will be suffering from dementia in 2039 (Yu, 2012). Obviously, dementia is one of the major issues that shall never be neglected. Research suggested that patients may be benefit from the non-pharmacological approaches including the cognitively engaging activities and family gathering (Arvanitakis, 2019). Interaction was emphasized on the management of dementia. However, how could it be established under the impact of COVID19? Temi is a robot, programmed to enhance dementia care by providing the reality orientation and diversional therapy and also in fall prevention in the M&G wards of Shatin Hospital. Most of the functions are set to be initiated automatically, including broadcasting announcement, ward surveillance and even returning to home base for charging in case of low battery.
Objectives :
To enhance dementia care with non-pharmacological approaches. To enhance broadcasting announcement and reality orientation for fall prevention.
Methodology :
- 2 robots were supported by QOCP fund and piloted in 2 M&G wards. - Staff trainings were conducted in Oct and Nov 2020. - Pilot implementation was started on 25th Nov 2020. - Robot, Temi, has several roles in daily operation, including: 1. Greeting with reality orientation elements • It is started at scheduled time automatically, with an announcement of exact date and day of the week. 2. Announcement • Temi will walk around the ward at scheduled time automatically, with the announcement of following items: i. Fall prevention ii. Hand hygiene iii. Mask compliance iv. Medication round 3. Broadcast of education video, e.g., Fall prevention video 4. Virtual visitation • Video call by WhatsApp video call or Zoom 5. Interaction with dementia patients as a kind of diversional therapy or regular activities to ease their stress due to hospitalization • Video watching • Game playing for cognitive training • Patient’s preference will be recorded in the “This is me” record for formulating the individual care plan - Evaluation will focus on patient / carer survey, staff survey, fall rate and the comparison of pre and post BPSD assessment (NPI-Q) in 1Q 2021.
Result & Outcome :
According to the results of questionnaires completed by patients / carers (n=89), 91% of them satisfied with Temi’s works. Satisfaction and compliment were showed on its works on fall prevention, hand hygiene, mask compliance reinforcement and mood elevation by the interactive activities. Apart from that, pre and post Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaires (NPI-Q) were used to measure the distress which caregivers experienced. A down-trend level was observed after the implementation of Temi (n=10). Compared to the average fall rate of HA group 2 hospitals (0.42), fall rate of M&G wards in Shatin Hospital was found to be dropped from 0.2 in 2019 to 0.15 in 2020. As one of the staff members in ward, Temi helped us a lot in dementia care and fall prevention as this pilot project showed. Nevertheless, a stable Wi-Fi support is one of the major successful elements to evolve the use of technology in nursing care, in the future implementation.
