Authors (including presenting author) :
LEE KY, FONG KY, WONG LP, SUEN LF, LAU C, LUI CZ, TANG V, LI WH
Affiliation :
Community Nursing Services, Kowloon Hospital.
Introduction :
In the situation of scaled-down community social services during COVID-19 outbreak, community nurses continued to play an active role in supporting patients at home and Residential Care Home (RCH) to provide nursing care during the pandemic. The visiting service was strictly prohibited by Centre for Health Protection in RCH since January 2020 to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19. This arrangement has negative impact on psychological health for community patients due to lack of social interaction between families. Therefore, the program is designed to enhance communication between patients in RCH and their families in the community to promote psychological health under COVID-19 pandemic.
Objectives :
i) To enhance communication between patients in RCH and their families in the community under COVID-19 pandemic.
ii) To promote psychological health for patients in the community.
iii) To enhance the quality of care for patients in the community.
Methodology :
Inclusion criteria:
- Active cases of Community Nursing Services (CNS) of Kowloon Hospital (KH) with aged 65 years old or above
- One of the parties was a resident of RCH receiving nursing care under KH CNS. Another party did not live with the above party who was receiving nursing care under KH CNS.
- Telecommunication device is unavailable at either one party
- One party did not know how to use telecommunication device Telecommunication:
- Provide telecommunication weekly by using iPad mini via zoom between both parties during visited by KH CNS simultaneously.
Duration of program 4 months from July 2020 to October 2020. Total 4 sessions of telecommunication coordinated by KHCNS. Each session last for 10 minutes.
Pre- and post- assessment:
- Questionnaire to review 4 weeks later after receiving telecommunication: i) Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) ii)Participants’ satisfaction survey
Result & Outcome :
- 4 pairs of patients had received the telecommunication in this program.
- The participants showed marked improvement on psychological states after receiving regular telecommunication coordinated by KH CNS. The overall GDS was decreased by 50% after this program. This indicated that their mood had been improved after the implementation of this program.
- All participants were satisfied with this program as it could enhance communication between participants.
- 6 participants request CNS to increase the frequency of conducting telecommunication for them.
- Two participants were found marked improvement on medication compliance as accompanied with decreased GDS after the program.
