A researcher from our Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Joanna Rymaszewska, a psychiatrist with many years of scientific and clinical experience and Head of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, is involved in the project. Wrocław Tech will be hosting the scientists from May 20 to 22. 

A cocktail of science and culture

The conference focuses on issues including the use of modern technology in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of people with dementia, but the experts also address ethical aspects concerning sufferers’ rights, autonomy, and degree of independence.
The researchers affiliated with the Cost Action “Ethics in Dementia” network, (using the acronym EDEM), are specialists in various fields – psychiatrists, pharmacologists, psychologists, nurses, sociologists, but also lawyers, philosophers, ethicists, and even experts in literature who are also gerontologists. Prof. Joanna Rymaszewska, psychiatrist, Head of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Wrocław Tech’s Faculty of Medicine: “We have very different backgrounds and professional achievements, and we look at ethical issues and the needs of patients from different perspectives,” she says of the conference participants. “There are people from many European countries among us, as well as those hailing from more remote parts of the world, e.g. Argentina and Ecuador, who live and work scientifically in Europe.” It’s a group of specialists concerned with the ethical aspects of diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, of patients with dementia, as well as matters relevant to their family members and direct support professionals working with them. The group includes Prof. Isabel Machado Alexandre, Eng from the Technical University of Lisbon, Prof. Hilde Thygesen from Oslo Metropolitan University, and Philosophy Professor Bert Gordijn from Dublin City University, with whom we discuss the possibilities and limitations, also of an ethical nature, of using new technologies in the area of dementia care. We also debate the shortcomings of public education and the education of healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses, and direct support staff, considering where the boundaries of patient autonomy and safety lie. It really is quite a cocktail –of views, opinions, and experiences,” she adds. “We aim to assess to what extent we’re able to keep up with the technologies and needs of those living in countries such as Poland, Spain, and Albania and develop solutions to help people with dementia to function in their natural environment, i.e. at home, for as long as possible.

Half a million Poles suffer from dementia

The “Ethics in Dementia” network of researchers includes five working groups, one of which analyses the existing systemic solutions used in European countries. “Poland, as one of the few European countries, lacks a national strategy to regulate the situation of people with dementia even though efforts have been made for years to enact and implement it,” emphasises Prof. Joanna Rymaszewska. “It’s estimated that we have around half a million people with dementia, and the number will grow as we grow older and live longer. We’re being cared for more and more effectively by cardiologists or oncologists, so we’re living longer and, in the meantime, the risk of symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases that we aren’t able to spot earlier is increasing. This problem will affect many of us and our loved ones. I hope that our recommendations can be presented to decision-makers and will result in the development of effective solutions in Poland, too.

Things worth knowing:

Dementia symptoms occur in the course of conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other chronic neurodegenerative conditions. They also affect post-stroke and atherosclerotic patients. Cost Action “Ethics in Dementia” workshops and lectures will be held for three days at Wrocław University of Science and Technology.

Photo gallery – participants in the "Ethics in Dementia" conference held at Wrocław Tech