Psychiatric Center Glostrup
2018
Sensory Rooms
At the Psychiatric Center Glostrup, testing of four sensory rooms has led to a decrease in the use of belt restraints. The center is now getting seven new sensory rooms, which will be ready by the end of 2018.
Sensory rooms calm patients and can significantly reduce the use of restraints, particularly belt restraints, which are a severe intervention for patients. This is the conclusion at the Psychiatric Center Glostrup, which launched the “New Paths Project” in 2015.
The project has had multiple tracks, but the sensory rooms for hospitalized patients have been particularly successful. The sensory rooms are a treatment option for severely ill patients who are anxious, restless, manic, psychotic, or exhibit aggressive behaviors.
The Psychiatric Center Glostrup has tested four sensory rooms in two departments as part of a project funded by a special pool to reduce the use of restraints, including belt restraints. When the funding period ended in 2017, the Capital Region of Denmark decided to allocate 5 million kroner annually to continue psychiatric efforts.
“We’ve had good experiences with the sensory rooms—they help calm patients, reduce anxiety, hallucinations, aggression, and self-harm behavior. Some patients with sleep problems have fallen asleep while in the sensory room. The project has contributed to a reduction in restraints, including physical holds, belt restraints, and, importantly, the patients’ suffering,” says Phuong le Quach to Region Hovedstaden Psychiatry.
“We’ve had good experiences with the sensory rooms—they help calm patients, reduce anxiety, hallucinations, aggression, and self-harm behavior. Some patients with sleep problems have fallen asleep while in the sensory room.”
Phuong le Quach
Center Director, Psychiatric Center Glostrup
The sensory rooms are simply designed to avoid creating unnecessary noise for the patients. They include Wavecare sensory technology, where patients can choose from a variety of themes and settings with light and sound. For example, patients can select a forest theme with a video of leaves, greenish light, and the sound of birds chirping.
According to Katarina Nenadovic, a research and project nurse at Psychiatric Center Glostrup, patients also experience the sensory room as a helpful tool. They report generally feeling better after using the sensory room. Patients with insomnia and restlessness also find that the sensory room helps them finally fall asleep, she tells Kristeligt Dagblad.
She emphasizes that it is not solely the sensory room’s success but that the rooms have positively influenced the reduction of belt restraints.
At Psychiatric Center Glostrup, department 809 had a total of 50 belt restraints per month in 2014. By 2017, that number had decreased to just one in an entire year.
At department 811, the number decreased significantly from 41 belt restraints in 2014 to 12 in 2017.
Wavecare currently services 44 sensory rooms in the Capital Region at Psychiatric Centers in Amager, Glostrup, Ballerup, Copenhagen, North Zealand, and Sct. Hans.
The agreement includes both operation and maintenance of the sensory room equipment, patient access to the Wavecare Me app, and new Wavecare themes each year.
Updated, August 2024
The sensory rooms are a treatment option for severely ill patients in an intensive department at Psychiatric Center Glostrup.
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