Shengjing Hospital
Our current work with the hospital:
- Palliative Care Staff Capacity Building
There is an increasing awareness, within parts of China, as to the importance of helping patients to have a good death following a terminal diagnosis. Symptom control, pain relief, psychological, spiritual and social support. At the moment palliative and end of life care are not known specialities in China so there are no specialist staff working in the Palliative Care Ward. The Scottish Churches China Group has, for a number of years, brought staff over from Shenyang to undertake observational placements/visits to palliative and end of life facilities in Scotland. - Spiritual Care in palliative/end of life situation
An integral part of palliative and end of life care is spiritual care. Since 2010/11 we have brought nursing/medical staff to Scotland to undertake training in delivering Spiritual Care in a palliative/end of life setting. We havealso sent medical staff from the UK to spend time in the Palliative Care Ward providing foundational training in spiritual care. The Liaoning Diocese Caritas Centre in Shenyang, has been closely involved in all of the Spiritual Care training and has a close working relationship with the Palliative Care staff of Shengjing Hospital. - Rehabilitation
As with Palliative Care, Rehabilitation is not a known medical speciality in China so there have been few if any specialist rehabilitation doctors, nurses or Allied Health Professionals (i.e. physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists). As of May 2016, however, a Rehabilitation Centre has opened in the Shenbei Campus, in the suburbs of Shenyang. We have placed medical staff wanting to train in rehabilitation in the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Glasgow and with community rehabilitation teams in Forth Valley NHS.
- Nursing Observational Visits
In the last 20 years nursing has developed rapidly in China. There is, however, considerable work still to be done in developing the scope of the nurse as a healthcare professional. In the winter of 2016, for example, the Vice Director of Nursing for Shengjing Hospital will come to Scotland to have a look at the role(s) of the nurse in the NHS and the university training curriculum.