idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
At the MHH, Barbara Bostelmann looks after the needs of people with dementia
Hospital patients are getting older and older – according to the Federal Statistical Office, around 44 percent of them were over 65 years of age in 2023. Many of these people have dementia in addition to their actual medical condition. This makes their stay in hospital particularly challenging for those affected, as well as for their doctors and nurses. To ensure that patients with dementia receive the best possible care, the Lower Saxony Hospital Act stipulates that hospitals should have dementia officers. At the Hannover Medical School (MHH), Barbara Bostelmann has taken on this role on a voluntary basis. The 68-year-old is committed to the well-being of those affected and is the link between all those involved in the treatment process.
Her own experiences as a relative
Dementia is a generic term for various disorders characterized by the progressive loss of certain mental abilities. Sufferers experience, for example, a decline in thinking and memory skills and have difficulty with orientation and speech. Emotional and social abilities can also be affected. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. For people with dementia, the new environment, the strangers and the fast-paced processes in a hospital are an extreme situation. This often causes anxiety, confusion and restlessness. There is a risk of a deterioration in their general condition, and complications such as falls may also occur more frequently. Barbara Bostelmann is very familiar with such situations. Her mother suffered from dementia. She cared for the old lady for eleven years, six of them at home and five in a nursing home. “For me as a daughter, the slowly worsening dementia was initially very difficult. But then I learned to deal with it,” she explains. In light of her experiences, the former insurance broker applied for the position of dementia officer at the MHH in 2023. She was not a new face there, however. Barbara Bostelmann has been an honorary patient advocate since 2016, working alongside Professor Dr. Bernd Haubitz to address the questions, concerns and needs of patients. “I thought the tasks of a dementia officer could complement each other well,” she says.
Sensitive approach to those affected
As dementia officer, Barbara Bostelmann is committed to the well-being and holistic care of patients suffering from dementia. She acts as an intermediary between the patients and their relatives and the medical and nursing staff at the hospital. “The goal is to establish a mutual basis of trust and to treat those affected with sensitivity,” she explains. She wants to help avoid conflicts and generally increase sensitivity towards dementia patients at the MHH. When she started her job, she first did some theoretical work on the topic and then established contacts with the departments and wards of the MHH that tend to care for many older patients. These include, for example, the Department of Trauma Surgery with the certified DGU Center for Trauma Surgery in the Elderly, the Department of Neurology, the Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and the central emergency room.
Encouragement and support
“I receive a lot of encouragement and active support from the hospital teams,” says the dementia representative. The volunteer has already been able to implement many of her plans. She set up fixed office hours for dementia patients and their relatives and ensured that some wards were equipped with special activity materials for dementia patients. In addition, she introduced information sheets that are filled out when patients are admitted and provide information about individual limitations, habits, language comprehension, personal contacts and much more. Barbara Bostelmann is particularly pleased that three young people have been hired for a voluntary social year to support her cause. “They have received training and are now directly taking care of the demented patients on three wards,” explains Barbara Bostelmann. She believes that special dementia care will become even more important in the future: “With demographic change, the number of people with dementia will continue to increase. This means that the number of patients with dementia in hospitals will also increase.”
SERVICE
For further information, please contact Barbara Bostelmann, demenzbeauftragte@mh-hannover.de.
The dementia representative at the MHH: Barbara Bostelmann
Copyright: Karin Kaiser/MHH
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten
Medizin
regional
Personalia
Englisch
The dementia representative at the MHH: Barbara Bostelmann
Copyright: Karin Kaiser/MHH
Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.
Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).
Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.
Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).
Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).
