Authors (including presenting author) :
Chiu KY(1)(2), Wong CS(2), Tsang KW(1)(2), Yu MS(1)(2), Ma MS(1)(2), Kung CC(1)(2), Cheung LY(1)(2), Lo RSK(1)(2)(3), Kwan WM(1)(2)(3), Cheung SY(2)
Affiliation :
(1)Palliative Care Unit, Shatin Hospital (2)Shatin Hospital, (3)Bradbury Hospice
Introduction :
Use of a customized tablet as an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can facilitate communication in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) (Brunner et al., 2018). Our Palliative Care Units incorporated the electronic writing tablets as an innovative measure in Quality of Care Project (QOCP) to explore its applicability in HNC patients.
Objectives :
(1)To facilitate communication with HNC patients; (2)To identify HNC patients’ needs; (3)To promote quality of life of HNC patients.
Methodology :
This interventional project implemented the use of electronic writing tablet to HNC patients with speech and language disorders. The subjects were recruited voluntarily from two palliative care units (In-Patient Palliative Care wards and Day Hospice). An evaluation form using six-point Likert scale was conducted to the patients, nurses and supporting staffs to quantify the objectives achieved by the writing tablets. Free text was also adopted to explore their further narrative comments.
Result & Outcome :
Results:
From September to December 2022, 35 patients were recruited and all of them were capable to use the writing tablets. All of them agreed that the writing tablets could help them communicate with the staffs and express their needs. Two of the patients rated “mildly disagreed” in communicating with family especially during video call because the image was not clear enough. All the patients preferred writing tablets to paper and were impressed by their handy size and partial erase function. All the patients were willing to use the writing tablets as an AAC.
47 staffs were recruited in evaluation, including 27 nurses, 15 patient care assistants and 5 temporary undergraduate nursing students. All of them agreed that the writing tablets aided the communication with HNC patients including understanding their requests, physical needs and psychological conditions. 4 staffs mildly disagreed that the patients were willing to use the tablets. They observed that patients sometimes preferred body language to the writing tablets.
Conclusions:
An electronic writing tablet as a media of AAC for HNC patients with speech and language disorders is likely to facilitate communication and identify their needs. It is an economical alternative for those patients to promote their quality of life in clinical setting.
