role swopping

dignity action day at chiltern view - staff took part in becoming a resident for the whole day this took place over a few days! staff had to experience the full impact of what it would be like to become resident with medical problems such as having had a stroke , being blind, being deaf, having dementia, having had there legs bandaged up from having uclers , communication limits, staff had to feel the full impact of having these medical issues , being cared for, having there personal care done for them , experiencing someone feeding them , toileting them , was there dignity maintained ? was they respected? was they listening too? was they understood? did they feel included or isolated? was they treated equally? was they given enough choices? was they asked there opionons and would they like , did they feel comfortable asking for help if they could ? staff felt the full impact and is was a great challege and reseach project! i made video diary of the challenges and staff were asked to give a write up on how it made they feel , what dignity means to them and how it will help improve the care we provide to our service users/ residents, there was some amazing feed back one staff memeber who had to experince being blind said " what you feel and what you think when touching somethink can be 2 differnet things? which can be confusing! also it would be good for staff to explain the surrounding to resident as i never new where i would be sitting or what i was sitting near? there were so great feed back and lessons learnt which i feel is a great possive approach to providing better dignity and awareness in care ! staff made a great effort .

also residents, myself and staff used news papers and magazines and residents were asked what words they assoicate with dignity and respect? we then cut out the words and residents made a dignity action board that is now on display within our home. great effort chiltern view residents! :-)