Authors (including presenting author) :
Ki SY(1), Lam YL (1), Wong LF (1), Yau SL(1), Tsoi KH(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Psychogeriatric care unit, Department of Psychiatry, Tai Po Hospital
Introduction :
Psychiatric patients are at increased risk of choking and falling than the general population. Besides, most of them lack awareness of their risks and are uncooperative for the preventive measures. Bedhead signage is commonly used in wards to alert staff for patients with choking or fall risk. However, psychiatric patients always mobilize in the ward and engage in various activities out of their beds. Therefore, there is difficulty for staff to identify patients with choking and fall risk to provide corresponding interventions. In the view of this situation, the program, which is using symbolic clothing in psychogeriatric wards to identify patients with choking and fall risk, is designed. It aims to enhance staffs’ alertness towards patients with choking and fall risk, and to provide appropriate care accordingly. We expect that this program can increase patients’ awareness of their own choking and fall risk also.
Objectives :
(1)Enhancing staffs’ alertness towards patients with choking and fall risk; (2)Facilitating close supervision;
(3)Providing corresponding interventions;
(4)Increasing patients’ awareness of their own risks.
Methodology :
Symbolic clothing (red color tops for choking risk and yellow color trousers for fall risk) were designed. Staff were invited to give opinions for the designs. A designated poster was put up in the bathroom for the sake of ensuring patients wore appropriate symbolic clothing. Frontline staff were briefed about the program during handover. Post-intervention questionnaires were collected from both staff and patients to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Result & Outcome :
More than 90% of staff agreed that the symbolic clothing could help to recognize patients with choking and fall risks, alert them for closer monitoring so as to follow the corresponding interventions. Meanwhile, 97.5% of patients agreed that the symbolic clothing increased their own awareness of their choking and fall risks. 70% of them expressed their acceptance to follow the preventive measures.
