Volunteers from Jiangsu University help the elderly browse news about the two sessions online in Zhenjiang, East China's Jiangsu Province on March 8, 2022. Older people are using computers and smartphones to read about old-age security, medical care policies, and services for the elderly discussed at the two sessions. Photo: VCG

Shanghai will launch a pilot professional training course for the first batch of 100 hospital escorts and the skill standards and service specifications of the occupation are being drafted by the local aged care industry associations, local media reported Thursday.

The new policies come out as this emerging profession can no longer meet the requirements of patients as the city’s population rapidly ages. 

Hospital escort is a nascent occupation providing services such as making appointments, completing registration and collecting prescribed medicines and medical test results for patients, especially the elderly who are unable to keep up with the advanced payment technologies widely used at today’s hospitals and complicated hospital visiting procedures. 

Launched by Shanghai Open University in the form of open and distance education to build a resilient education system and a learning society in Shanghai, hospital escort training for elderly care services will cover basic knowledge for the elderly services and professional skills for hospital escorts in terms of physiological and psychological characteristics of the elderly, key points of nursing, service procedures, medical consultation procedures, communication skills, and legal responsibilities. The training takes into account the professional ethics and skills, reflecting multi-disciplinary knowledge integration. 

The Shanghai Open University currently is also collaborating with the Shanghai Aged Care Service Industry Association to draft two group standards including the hospital escort professional skills standard and the hospital escort service norms, which are expected to publish within the year. The skills standard and the service norms will detail requirements for the admission conditions, basic qualities, professional training, and service items of hospital escort practitioners. 

Data from the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau show that the permanent population in Shanghai reached 24.75 million as of the end of 2022, with people aged 60 and above accounting for 25 percent, and those aged 65 and above accounting for 18.7 percent. 

Among people with Shanghai household registration, people aged 60 and above reached 36.8 percent. Shanghai has entered a moderate aging society according to the international standards, and is heading toward an aging population at an accelerated pace. 

Although hospitals have been making efforts to provide convenience and improve the medical experience for patients in recent years, with volunteers and inquiry counters available, new situations such as electronic diagnoses and treatment processes and an increase in seeking medical care in different cities have made hospital escorts a growing demand for many aged residents, according to Zhang Haina, a deputy director of the Institute for International Economic and Trade Innovation and Governance, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. 

Statistics from Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao show that 26,000 searches for hospital escort services were made in 2022. On e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com, there exist more than 500 stores offering hospital escort services, with some well-performing stores achieving monthly sales of up to 1,000 orders. 

According to Wang Songhua, director of the education department of Shanghai Open University, the current market for the hospital escort services will remain volatile, with some fraudulent practitioners posing as escorts actually being engaged in hospital scalpers’ activities.

The pilot training course of hospital escort aims to further educate community-based elderly care workers, cultivating a high-quality and professional team of hospital escorts for the communities in the city, Wang said.

According to Wang, this training program has not yet opened to the public for enrollment. Instead, it is offered in the form of a free public welfare training in collaboration with relevant government departments and industry associations, targeting specific groups for. 

Zhang suggested that the national and relevant departments in localities should include hospital escort services in the new occupational directory at an appropriate time and formulate qualifications, entry standards and vocational training, clarifying service standards and scope, establishing industry standards, clearly specifying regulations on service content, quality, fees and procedures.

According to a survey report in 2022, among the respondents with experiences in providing hospital escort services, female practitioners accounting for more than 50 percent, with those born in the 1990s being the main labor forces, accounting for nearly 70 percent. 

From the perspective of the regions, 36.04 percent hospital escorts come from other provincial capital cities or municipalities and 24.77 percent come from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. 

In terms of salaries, 87.58 percent respondents said that their monthly income from hospital escort is below 10,000 yuan ($1,382), and 37.04 percent earn between 5,001 and 8,000 yuan per month. Only 11.11 percent said they earn more than 10,000 yuan per month. 

Global Times