Even if patients have recovered, emotional scars may linger

Patients may be baffled by negative emotions such as loneliness, distress or fractiousness during isolation at hospital. Frontline healthcare professionals not only need to take care of patients’ physical condition, but also their mental wellbeing. Clinical Psychology Service of Kowloon West Cluster (KWC) has been proactively providing psychological support to inpatients and discharged patients in the cluster since mid-February, walking by their side on the road to recovery.

Kitty Wu, KWC Department Manager (Clinical Psychology) explains, psychological assessments and services are provided through tele‑conferencing and tele-conversation to the COVID-19 inpatients and around 15 cases have received the service so far. Meanwhile, in order to follow up patients’ mental condition in the aftermath, colleagues of Clinical Psychology Service would invite them to participate in a follow‑up psychological service before discharge. If the consent is sought, the staff will contact the patients about a month after discharge to respond to a set of psychological screening questionnaires online. If a patient is found having persisting distress, appropriate service, such as clinical psychology outpatient service, will be arranged to assist his recovery and thus restoring his normal living. Currently, around 80 patients are willing to receive the service.

Caritas Medical Centre Clinical Psychologist Team Leader Valda Cho, shares that staff at wards are making tireless efforts and taking the initiative to show care and understand patients’ emotional needs. As such, cases in need could be identified early and referred to the team for appropriate support.

Helpful tips for staying well

Some discharged patients might be doubtful if they have fully recovered, some are unable to shed the anxieties of isolation, while some are afraid of others’ prejudiced manner. The following tips help relieve the uneasiness of recovered patients and bring them back to normal living.