Better patient care through dementia-friendly ward

Making reference to overseas literature and good practice, United Christian Hospital (UCH) has created the first ‘dementia-friendly ward’ in Hong Kong, which adopted environmental and functional designs catering to special needs of dementia patients. Renovated from June to September last year, UCH’s geriatric ward 11A is the brainchild of Deputy Chief of Service Dr Sha Kwok-yiu, Department Operations Manager Ng Yuen-bing and some 40 colleagues of Department of Medicine and Geriatrics. The team has also enhanced training to provide quality services for dementia patients. At the same time, the team strives to deepen staff’s understanding of dementia as well as to arouse public awareness of the disease through a series of promotional activities in September last year, says Yuen-bing. “And in October, a representative from Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association delivered a two-day workshop for staff,” she adds. Over 400 staff members registered as ‘Friends of Dementia’ who with broadened understanding of the disease, indeed help dementia patients in real life.

Five features of dementia-friendly ward in UCH

Signage with double font size

Signage in the dementia ward has font size double those of normal ones to make it clear enough for patients. Brightness of individual lights can be adjusted to meet care needs.

Artificial skylight

With the images of blue sky and trees projected on the ceiling, patients can tell whether it is day or night. Chan Oi-lin, Ward Manager, says over-complicated images will not be used as it will confuse the patient. The light level of lightbox should be similar to natural daylight. The lightbox is turned off at night.

Rainbow village wall painting

The wall painting was drafted by Polly Kwong, drawing teacher of the ‘Father of Fiber Optics’ Professor Charles Kao, and coloured by patients and healthcare staff. Advanced Practice Nurse Tam Yuen-yee hopes that the painting can bring hope and positive energy to patients. The colourful wall can also be used for cognitive training as patients are asked about the colours of rainbow and number of sunflowers.

Mini-nurse station

A nurse station can be found at the entrance of ward, which is far away from patient areas at the other end of the corridor. After renovation, two tall mini-nurse stations added at the two ends of the ward allow nurses to easily monitor and provide timely support for patients, reducing the use of restraints.

Use of warm colours

The floor, wall and handles in the ward are in warm colours. Purple, yellow and orange are used for clear signages for patients. Oi-lin elaborates that the floor is not waxed because dementia patients see the reflection on waxed floor as puddle of water or objects which deter them from stepping forward.