Empower to connect and connect to empower: experience in using a humanistic approach to improve patients' access to, and experience of, care in isolation wards during the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore.

ABSTRACT

Patients admitted to the isolation ward during the COVID-19 outbreak face multiple psychosocial stressors including the disruptive experience of being in quarantine, anxiety over contracting a newly emerging infectious disease and limited access to their healthcare team. This quality improvement project aims to leverage on technology to improve patients' access to, and experience of, care while in isolation.Patients admitted to two isolation wards in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) between 28 February and 19 March 2020 were each provided an iPad loaded with the MyCare application (app), curated materials and mobile games. During this period, 83 of them accessed the device and the app. MyCare app is an app developed by the nursing team in SGH as part of an existing interprofessional collaboration to help patients navigate their care during their inpatient stay. In response to COVID-19, MyCare app was supplemented with materials to address affected patients' informational and psychosocial needs. These materials included an information sheet on COVID-19, interviews with previous severe acute respiratory syndrome survivors, psychosocial support materials, and uplifting literature, illustrated storybooks and artwork.This paper describes the process of planning for, and executing, the intervention and reports the initial results of its effect. Initial feedback indicated a positive response to the intervention. 9 out of 10 respondents (90%) rated their hospital experience with a maximum of five stars and all 10 respondents (100%) rated the psychosocial support materials with five stars. Doctors managing the patients also observed a reduction in the number of commonly asked questions following the deployment of the iPad.This quality improvement project is ongoing with plans for further research to determine how to better support the psychosocial needs of patients in isolation during a novel disease outbreak. This report is written based on the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence guidelines.