Polish nurse and computer science student Adrian Nowakowski received the prestigious Queen Silvia Nursing Award from the Swedish monarch. The ceremony took place at the Royal Castle in Stockholm.

Nowakowski was recognized for his innovative project “Stefania,” which uses artificial intelligence to learn how to communicate with patients suffering from dementia. He works at the Department of Neurology at the Central Clinical Hospital in Warsaw (UCK WUM).

The award ceremony. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/Kungahuset

 

The award includes a diploma, a stipend of €6,000 and the opportunity for an internship.

In addition to the Pole, the winners of the competition were nurses and students from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and the USA. Nearly 170 Polish nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students competed in the last edition of the competition.

The Swedish queen is known for her advocacy for the care of the elderly and those suffering from dementia, which has been her personal mission since her mother was diagnosed with the disease in the 1990s.

According to Swedish Care International, the organizer of the competition, currently about 600,000-700,000 people in Poland suffer from dementia, a number that is expected to grow as the population ages.