‘We can always make contact with patients, safely’

The Van der Hoeven Kliniek is a clinic for forensic psychiatry. The patients are prisoners, often with complex psychiatric issues. In the Van der Hoeven Kliniek, they learn how to 'live in a responsible way – to be safe for themselves and others’.

The Van der Hoeven Kliniek operates at a high security level (Level 3) and since January 2022, has a Cowin™ 48 in one of their de-escalation rooms . Based on the successful experiences with this system, a second CoWin™ 48 was recently installed.

The care team sees the CoWin™ as a valuable expansion of their 'toolbox' that they can use to help their patients. During an evaluation of the deployment of the CoWin™ 48 media wall, the following positive experiences were shared:

• Simple, intuitive in use
• It's nice to be able to offer something that the patients really need, like music or images, for example
• It's good to be able to tailor the selection to a patient's individual needs
• Early de-escalation and diversion result in fewer incidents and violent incidents
• It's nice to be able to have safe contact with patients whose behaviour is out of control
• It's helpful to be able to increase stimuli gradually

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Floris Bots, team leader at the Van der Hoeven Kliniek: ‘What we appreciate is the simplicity of the system. It's easy to use. CoWin™ also fulfils a concrete need in patients. As a care team, we're therefore able to offer something as an interim measure to patients who are high-energy with a risk of using violence. Often, a bit of television or radio in the de-escalation room offers just enough relaxation to get them prepared for their own room. But we also see that there are patients who experience an awful lot of stress in a low-stimulus environment such as a de-escalation room. The fact that there is some entertainment for those patients has a calming effect on them. We're currently experimenting with all the options and learning from the system every day. There is however just one thing missing: the possibility of playing a game with a patient - so we hope you'll put that high on your development list.'

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