Caring together

Being admitted for treatment at an acute care hospital is an overwhelming experience for most people with dementia. This has prompted nursing scientists Heidi Petry and Rahel Naef to develop a program at University Hospital Zurich to provide these patients with even better support.

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Every year around 50,000 people in Switzerland suffering from dementia are treated at acute hospitals, often after a fall or heart attack. This was the case for Franziska Tschirky’s aunt, an 80-year-old dementia sufferer who was admitted after breaking her collarbone. “She had no idea at all of why she had ended up in hospital and would have to stay there,” explains her niece. Her aunt was scared, and tried to resist treatment. It was a difficult situation for everybody concerned.

“Hospital routine doesn’t leave much time for attending to every individual’s needs,” says Heidi Petry, Head of the Center of Clinical Nursing Science at University Hospital Zurich (USZ). But that’s precisely what people with dementia and other cognitive impairments would require. This has prompted Heidi Petry to join forces with Rahel Naef and a team of additional specialists to develop a two-part program tailored to this group of patients. Petry believes this close cooperation between researchers and practitioners is a unique opportunity to improve care for these people – especially as USZ is the only hospital in Switzerland with its own nursing research activities.

The first part of the program involves devising a continuing education program for medical professionals in acute hospitals, dealing with topics such as how to deal with people with dementia who are anxious, and how to communicate with their families. In the second part, the project team intends to develop a care path describing the individual steps involved in working with relatives to provide the best possible care for those affected.

“We’re adopting a family-centric approach,” explains Rahel Naef. For example, family members can fill medical personnel in on the patient’s typical behaviors, by the same token receiving support with things like preparing for the time after the person leaves hospital. Franziska Tschirky is excited about the way the project aims to strengthen cooperation between physicians, nurses, and families: “The project will make hospitalization an easier experience for people like my aunt.”

The project is supported by a donation from the EMPIRIS Foundation to the USZ Foundation. The plan is to have formulated the program in detail by the end of 2021 before deploying it at USZ. Heidi Petry hopes that it will also be adopted by other hospitals.

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70% financed

EMPIRIS Foundation