Abstract
Background: This study responds to international pressures to improve hospital care for patients with dementia. Aim: To reach a concise overview of ways to improve the emotional wellbeing of patients with dementia when in hospital by exploring their personal care requests. Methods: Written advance care planning (ACP) documents completed by patients with dementia and their caregivers were retrieved from a UK hospital (n=21) and analysed using descriptive phenomenology. Findings: Care requests showed the changeable and personal nature of emotional distress and gave the responses that patients require from hospital staff. Responses included attending to physical health, offering reassurance, being with the patient, treating the patient as a person and providing a different physical environment. Conclusion: ACP documents offered a structured tool for informing care with succinct, personalised requests of patients with dementia. Patient requests were consistent with extensive literature defining person-centred care. Increased use of ACP in hospitals requires evaluation.
Highlights
Personalised hospital care Person-centred hospital care in the UK requires healthcare professionals to understand the emotional wellbeing of patients with dementia and respond appropriately (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 2018; Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017)
Aim: To reach a concise overview of ways to improve the emotional wellbeing of patients with dementia when in hospital by exploring their personal care requests
Written advance care planning (ACP) documents completed by patients with dementia and their caregivers were retrieved from a UK hospital (n=21) and analysed using descriptive phenomenology
Summary
Personalised hospital care Person-centred hospital care in the UK requires healthcare professionals to understand the emotional wellbeing of patients with dementia and respond appropriately (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 2018; Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017). Advance care planning (ACP) is an established process within hospitals of reaching a shared understanding of a patient’s needs, with the patient, their family and healthcare providers, to create a written statement of care (Piers et al 2018; World Health Organization 2011). Aim: To reach a concise overview of ways to improve the emotional wellbeing of patients with dementia when in hospital by exploring their personal care requests. This study responds to international pressures to improve hospital care for patients with dementia
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