ABSTRACT

Hospitals are efficiency-oriented and often fail to adequately accommodate anything more than the most basic needs of their patients. This applies especially to patients with dementia because of their particular vulnerability to further functional decline during a hospital stay, as normal day-to-day activities atrophy very quickly when they are paused. In acknowledging this problem, Special Care Units (SCUs) have been developed especially to treat patients with dementia while in hospitals. SCUs are intended to work on several levels, including the model of care, comprehensive integration with the hospital at large etc. but our interest is in dementia-friendly design, because whether these measures affect outcomes has hitherto not been quantified. Using multilevel regression analysis, looking at the spatial data from 25 German SCUs alongside retrospective routine data from geriatric patients (N = 2735), it was revealed that most dementia-friendly design measures are associated with significant improvement in patients’ self-care abilities. The design measures proved to be effective, feasible and attractive. This paper outlines the potential of dementia-friendly design to shift from speciality design towards human-centred design for the entire general hospital.

摘要

医院以效率为导向，往往无法充分满足患者最基本的需求。这尤其适用于痴呆症患者，因为他们在住院期间特别容易出现功能进一步下降的情况，因为正常的日常活动一旦暂停，就会很快萎缩。考虑到这一问题，特别护理病房 (SCU) 被开发出来，专门用于治疗住院期间的痴呆症患者。SCU 旨在在多个层面上开展工作，包括护理模式、与整个医院的全面整合等。但我们的兴趣在于痴呆症友好型设计，因为迄今为止这些措施是否影响结果尚未得到量化。使用多水平回归分析，N  = 2735），研究表明大多数痴呆症友好型设计措施与患者自我护理能力的显着改善相关。事实证明，该设计措施是有效、可行和有吸引力的。本文概述了痴呆症友好型设计的潜力，即整个综合医院从专业设计转向以人为本的设计。