Keeping patients connected with the outside world

Social Worker Advanced Team Leader Kristy Washington

A pilot project at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) is providing older and cognitively impaired patients who lack access to patient entertainment with portable radios to keep them stimulated and facilitate their connections to the outside world.

Initiated by the RBWH Social Work team and developed in conjunction with Eat Walk Engage, the Hello Outside World project was implemented in response to staff identifying that older patients are often digitally disadvantaged and not able to access entertainment using smart devices. This can in turn promote boredom and potentially cognitive decline.

The teams noted that older patients are generally familiar with how to use a radio independently and have now equipped Ward 9BS with a sufficient supply of radios, batteries, and headphones for all patients.

Social Worker Advanced Team Leader Kristy Washington said the radios have quickly become an important resource for patients during their recovery.

“It’s a small project and a simple idea, but the aim is for patients who are in bed, unwell and often alone to have an opportunity to connect, via radio, with the outside world,” Kristy said.

“More than 40 percent of patients attend RBWH without a means to access entertainment or are unable to access a device due to cognitive or physical impairment.

“The radios help to enhance the patient experience on the ward, encourage functional independence, facilitate connection to the outside world, and provide stimulation through access to news and music.”

Kristy said the response from both patients and staff to the initiative has been very positive.

“Previously, staff have reported that having no access to patient entertainment has been very noticeable on the ward, particularly when patients are unable to tune into major world news or when popular sporting events are on,” she said.

“Patients listen to the radios every day now, and it has become part of their routine.

“One patient said, ‘It’s marvellous! Lifts the boredom’, while another commented that ‘it’s good to have something to distract me from the ward noise’.”