Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan HS, Chan OL, Ng Y.B.
Affiliation :
Department of Medical and Geriatrics
Introduction :
Dementia is a growing concern in geriatric care. In Hong Kong, 1 in every 3 elders over 85 years old suffers from dementia. It is estimated that in 2039, the number will be increased by 3 times. More than 300,000 seniors will be living with dementia. Therefore, we strive to develop a Dementia- Friendly setting for our geriatric patients. But this time, we tried something smarter and more innovative: the TEMI Robot.
Objectives :
1. Develop smart features in geriatric setting with TEMI robot 2. Provide reality orientation in a systematic and consistent way 3. Provide interactive and stimulating cognitive training 4. Promote reminiscence therapy visually and audially
Methodology :
First phase was started in April 2022, including operators training, TEMI set up, ideas collection, staff promotion and foreseeable obstacles tackling. The program was soft- launched in May 2022. The program is divided into two parts: scheduled routine and unscheduled dispatch according to patients’ needs or requests. Scheduled routines include reality orientation at 0630, 1715 and 2230. The TEMI robot will follow pre-set route in ward and broadcast the following information: date, time, place, weather and the coming up activity. Unscheduled dispatches are mainly initiated by nurses and secondly upon patients’ requests. For example, cognitive training games (e.g., Mahjong), video calls and playing classic pop songs or Cantonese opera. Official launch was in June 2022 with several features updated. We switched to Wi-Fi egg so that the network became more stable. We have fine-tuned the TEMI schedule time which better match the ward operation according to the staff’s suggestions. The mealtime announcement was changed to 1700 so that TEMI would not be blocked by meal deliver cart. The “Goodnight announcement” was switched to 2215 so that P shift PCAs can help to monitor TEMI’s activity and patients’ response. We also added one more scheduled routine on every Sunday called “Beautiful Sunday” (金曲星期天) to enrich the elements of reminiscence therapy.
Result & Outcome :
TEMI has dispatched over 600 times in this half year. Though TEMI was sometimes interfered by Wi-Fi connection, navigation problem and emergency in ward, the elders still showed unexpected interest in it. They were amused and satisfied with the interactive and lively performance by TEMI especially the “Beautiful Sunday”. They felt thankful and are willing to see TEMI again. Our staffs also revealed that entertainment e.g., video calls, mahjong games and music video held by TEMI could somehow distract and calm the confused patients and dues, decreased the use of restraints compare with the pass. Overall, TEMI provided a special and different inpatient experience to our geriatric patients then the pass. It has been a new era of technology . Geriatrics can also be energetic, smart and they are able to move with times. TEMI helps us to integrate our care and service in a new way. We can provide total- patient- care not only physically but also psychologically. In the future, we will keep enhancing TEMI and our program to cope with the growing aged population and number of dementia patients.
