Speaker
Description
The Middlesex Hospital Alliance (MHA) is a 54 bed acute care community hospital caring for an often older person patient population on the medicine floor. Older adults are at risk for accelerated hospital decline during and after hospitalization (Mathews 2014). Providing cognitive stimulation has been shown to decrease falls, particularly in older persons with cognitive impairment. Therapies that enhance cognitive function can improve gait and reduce falls risk. Our Cognition Wall (aka “Cog Wall”) was built to enhance patient cognitive stimulation with the aims of decreasing falls and responsive behaviours, improving the patient experience and building community engagement.
The Cognition Wall was developed by building upon the “Brain Train” work done by the Best Practice Guideline teams for Preventing Falls and Reducing Injury from Falls (RNAO, 2017) and the 3Ds Delirium, dementia, and depression: Assessment and care (RNAO, 2016). The Cog Wall consists of 4 panels: garden, workshop, driving and kitchen. Each panel has visual and hands-on activities to engage patients. For example, a video screen on the garden panel can display weather or animal videos. The driving panel has a functioning steering wheel with videos simulating driving on city or countryside roads. Every element on the cognition wall was designed to be patient focused with consideration of cultural influences, work and education background, and patient physical abilities to interact with the Cog Wall.
This presentation will: 1. Highlight the development of our Cognition Wall with evidence-based principles guided by RNAO BPGs, 2. Share success and challenges with implementation, and 3. Share early feedback from staff, patients, and families on their “Cog Wall” interactions. Participants will benefit from hearing the development and implementation experiences of the “Cog Wall” team, be able to enhance their understanding of older person care,and consider similar strategies that could be used in their organizations.
What RNAO BPG or tool/toolkit is this work related to:
Preventing Falls and Reducing Injury from Falls (RNAO, 2017) and the 3Ds Delirium, dementia, and depression: Assessment and care (RNAO, 2016).
Keywords
Cognitive stimulation
Falls prevention
Author(s) Credentials and Title
Maureen Loft, NP PhD
NP/CNS Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital
| Organization Name | Middlesex Hospital Alliance |
|---|
