Development of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia(BPSD) App for use in a hospital setting

Abstract

Introduction Previous quantitative audits at Wyong Hospital, a 300 bed regional and teaching hospital in the Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) showed that the majority of Clinical Aggression Response Team (CART) calls occurred in the geriatric population.

Results suggested that often BPSD guidelines which were on the CCLHD intranet were not adhered to. It was suggested that medical officers need ready access to local guidelines and more education. Interviews with staff who were participating in CART calls found that medical staff were not confident in when to and what to prescribe and what was the most appropriate management.

These audits, which involved interviewing participants of CART calls, plus evidence about implementing practice change, suggests that mobile phone apps are used more frequently and are more effective than intranet documents.

Objective Develop a BPSD app with the potential to make evidence based recommendations and local guidelines accessible to the user at the bedside using a mobile device particularly during CART calls and enables the user to manage BPSD with ease.

Methods 1. Content of the app is based on BPSD guidelines published on the CCLHD intranet geriatric medicine webpages.

2. A prototype of the app was developed on Marvel designs and provided to the IT and e-health New South Wales department who provided suggestions, guidance on the app development and integration of the app onto the hospital IT system. Training sessions were provided via drop in sessions and online videos using Microsoft teams. Targeted education sessions on app usage was provided to medical personnel. Costs for the development of the app was funded by the Department of Geriatric medicine, Wyong and Gosford Hospital.

3. Ethics approval was obtained from the Central Coast Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee.

Results There has been more than 100 downloads of the app with levels of usage ranging from 1 to 38 on a daily basis.

Conclusion The development of the app allows ease of access to concise evidenced based information and supports clinicians in their role in managing BPSD.