SINGAPORE: SingHealth has launched two key initiatives - a handbook and workshops aimed at training staff to help elderly patients navigate better and use healthcare services in a more efficient manner.
The handbook, co-developed with the Tsao Foundation, aims to scale up the skills, competencies, clinical experience and knowledge of staff.
Some of the guidelines include recommendations pertaining to staff training, the physical environment and the operational process of the institution.
The age-sensitisation workshop aims to train front-line healthcare professionals - who are typically the first point of contact with elderly patients - to learn how to better relate and serve the needs of the elderly.
The workshop will put them through real life simulation of the challenges faced by the elderly in their daily activities.
For instance, workshop participants attempted to pick up coins on the floor while wearing knee braces to simulate how a patient with arthritis feels.
Other activities included taping participants' fingertips to simulate the loss of sensation.
"The hardest thing for me was trying to put on the shirt with the buttons because it's so hard (to find) where the buttonholes are," said Keith Bryan, senior radiographer at National Heart Centre.
Through role-playing, SingHealth hopes staff will be educated on problems faced by the elderly.
"Many of our forms are in small print and you really need to have good eyesight in order to go through this. This will help the staff to say 'this is really a problem for our patients, so what can we do? Should we look at more elderly-friendly printing, like (having) larger fonts?'" said Isabel Yong, SingHealth's group service quality director.
"Their hearing is not as sharp as many of us but the training will enable the front-line staff to know 'hey when you talk to an elderly patient, be sure that you are facing them so that they can see you at eye level."
Doris Goh, senior patient associate at National Neuroscience Institute, said: "(The workshop) helps me to understand the elderly more as we (get to walk) in their shoes. So when we walk, we know they are slow so we have to slow down ourselves in order to meet their needs."
To date, more than 1,000 front-line staff and supervisors from information counters, registration counters at the specialist outpatient clinics, call centres and other service centres have attended the workshop and SingHealth aims to train about 6000 staff in the next five years.
SingHealth attends to about a million elderly patient visits every year and this figure is set to grow significantly with a rising ageing population.
- CNA/xq
SingHealth trains staff to meet elderly patients' needs
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SingHealth trains staff to meet elderly patients' needs
