PolyU and NECHK Join Hands to Provide Interactive Social Robots for Older Adults and Caregivers

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NEC Hong Kong (NECHK) to provide intelligent interactive social robots for older adults and their caregivers. A series of research projects will also be carried out to investigate the effects of using social robots on managing self-care and to encourage older adults’ proactive engagement in interpersonal activities to foster a physically and mentally healthy life.

PolyU pioneers nursing education with first-of-its-kind VR learning system “Virtual Hospital”

Nursing education mainly comprises classroom teaching and clinical practice. Yet, face-to-face teaching and clinical placements at medical institutions have been affected amid the epidemic. With a view to enhancing the learning outcomes of nursing students, a research team led by Dr Justina LIU, Associate Professor of School of Nursing, and Dr Kitty CHAN, Senior Teaching Fellow of the same school, has developed a virtual learning system "Virtual Hospital" which makes use of virtual reality (VR) technology to offer an innovative experiential approach to nursing education. Virtual Hospital is a first-of-its-kind virtual learning system in Hong Kong that simulates the complex and chaotic environment of a real-life hospital ward. With a total of 11 games, the system provides five scenarios, namely "Clinical Practicum Orientation", "Challenges of Delirium", "Managing Multitasks", "Prevention of Errors" and "Potential Heart Attack". More than 1,200 combinations of randomised situations and multiple choices make it difficult for students to predict the tasks they will be handling, while they are required to provide instant responses to multitasks and make appropriate nursing decisions through assessing a patient’s condition and interpreting their medical information.  

Secretary for Food and Health visits the Caroline Hill Road Community Vaccination Centre today

Professor Sophia CHAN, Secretary for Food and Health, today visited the Caroline Hill Road Pop-up Community Vaccination Centre (PCVC) in Causeway Bay, which is operated by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in a non-profit-making mode, and commenced operation on 29 March 2022. Accompanied by PolyU President Prof. Jin-Guang Teng, Professor CHAN toured the centre to understand its operation and gave encouragement to the medical team on duty. She also expressed her gratitude to the University to support the Government’s vaccination programme.   Supported by a team of 300 students, teaching staff and alumni from PolyU’s School of Nursing, the Caroline Hill Road PCVC offers the BioNTech vaccination to people aged 12 or above. The School’s final year students will assist in the administration of the vaccine under the supervision and support of the teaching staff and alumni who are experienced registered nurses. The Caroline Hill Road PCVC is open daily from 8am to 8pm and will operate until the end of June. Learn more about PolyU’s initiatives to help fight the pandemic in Hong Kong: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/combatcovid19/

PolyU’s School of Nursing strongly supports the Caroline Hill Road Pop-up Community Vaccination Centre; Chief Executive and Secretary for the Civil Service visit the Centre today

Vaccination is paramount to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the community demand for vaccination, the Hong Kong SAR Government has established the Caroline Hill Road Pop-up Community Vaccination Centre (PCVC) in Causeway Bay, which commenced operation today (29 March). Located at the site provided by Hysan Development and the Chinachem Group, the PCVC is fully supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The University is operating the PCVC in a non-profit-making mode to help the community battle the pandemic.  

Schools of Nursing at PolyU and Tung Wah College join hands to conduct N95 respirator fit tests for community isolation facility healthcare practitioners from Hong Kong Baptist University

Wearing the correct size of respirator properly can reduce the risk of infection from COVID-19 for frontline healthcare practitioners. Recently, the Schools of Nursing at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Tung Wah College (TWC) are collaborating to jointly conduct N95 respirator fit tests at TWC’s Integrative Health Centre for over 200 nursing staff and students from Hong Kong Baptist University’s (HKBU) School of Continuing Education (SCE) who will be working at the Kai Tai Holding Centre. The latter will be looking after elderly COVID-19 patients who have mild symptoms or those who have recovered but cannot yet return home or to their care homes.

Secretary for Food and Health visits PolyU

PolyU stands together with the Hong Kong community in collaborative efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic

Hong Kong is battling an unprecedented wave of the novel coronavirus epidemic. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to supporting the Government’s efforts on various fronts in the fight against the pandemic. Over 700 PolyU students, alumni and staff have signed up to support community vaccination and testing programmes and provide assistance to different groups in need. They are part of PolyU’s collaborative efforts with the community in support of the Government’s anti-pandemic measures. Supporting elderly care homes and senior citizens has become paramount given the Omicron variant’s threat in the fifth wave outbreak. PolyU’s School of Nursing is teaming up with a number of local and Mainland China donors to provide more than 200 nursing homes with supplies, including 44,000 rapid antigen test kits, 200,000 sets of personal protective equipment (including face shields and N95 respirators), and 100 pulse oximeters. These enthusiastic donors and partners include the Zhongnanshan Medical Foundation of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Hecin Scientific, Teochew International Federation and the Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organizations, Peking University Alumni Association Shenzhen Branch, Koch Biotechnology (Beijing), Guangdong Biolight Meditech, and Wuhan Tianhe Ruiyuan Technology. The distribution of the supplies has been rolled out in phases to address the needs of the elderly and nursing home staff and help safeguard their health. Professor David SHUM, Chair Professor of Neuropsychology and Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, said, “PolyU has been closely working together with the Hong Kong community in the fight against COVID-19. For the past two years of the pandemic, we have been relentlessly supporting the authorities in their contact tracing efforts, and applying our research and innovation capabilities to support frontline healthcare workers and the general public. PolyU will continue to draw on its expertise from various fields and make new contributions to the Government’s anti-pandemic efforts.”