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Topic: Child Life Month (Read 307 times)

Insane 4 Survivor
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Child Life Month
« on: Mar 12^th, 2004, 3:01pm »

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PCH newsletter
March 2004

March is Child Life Month

Hospitalization can be unnerving enough when you are an adult. Imagine how scary the same experience can be for a child. Luckily, child life specialists are professionals devoted to making a child's hospitalization experience as understandable and close to normal life as possible. The child life profession will be honored by children, their families, and child life staff during the annual Child Life Month, March 2004.

The purpose of Child Life Month is to celebrate and promote understanding of the child life profession while highlighting the needs of children and families in healthcare settings.

The Child Life Council, sponsor of Child Life Month, is the professional association for child life specialists, providing educational and networking opportunities, as well as publications and a certification program. The Council has a membership of more than 2,600 child life professionals in the US, Canada and several other countries.

Child life specialists provide psychosocial care to infants, children, youth and their families in healthcare settings. Using play, education and self-expression to promote psychological well-being and optimum development, they work to reduce the impact of stressful or traumatic life events and situations, which affect their development, health, and well-being.

A goal of Child Life Month is to educate the public that more than 400 institutions across North America offer child life services because they care deeply about humanizing the healthcare experience for children and families. From the emergency department to the neonatal intensive care unit, serving children with broken bones to those with chronic illnesses, child life specialists are there explaining procedures and helping children and their families endure unfamiliar surroundings and expectations.

Child life specialists hold bachelor or masters level degrees in child life, child development or related fields and complete at least 480-hour internships as part of their professional training. Most sit for the Child Life Professional Certification Examination and become Certified Child Life Specialists.

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Re: Child Life Month
« Reply #1 on: Mar 12^th, 2004, 3:06pm »

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Bubbles, Bears & Goofy Gas
A little fun goes a long way - especially right before an operation
Date: 02/23/03
In the Preprocedure Area, he's known as Blue Barry.

Barry Worman, Child Life Specialist, typically arrives on the scene in blue scrubs, with a leggy stuffed frog named "Fly Swatter" wrapped around his neck. He's there to ease the fears of children as they wait for their turn in the operating room, and his playful garb wins half the battle.

"They usually laugh, because they see this frog around my neck," Worman says. "They see I'm not threatening."

That's important for the kids in Preprocedure, the place where children scheduled for surgery or other procedures (such as an endoscopy or MRI) wait with their families. Naturally, fears and questions abound.

Are there going to be needles?
Are they going to cut me open?
What are you going to do with half my kidney? Where does it go?
Am I going to wake up?
Worman once worked for a hospital where there was nobody to answer such questions -- at least in a way that put kids at ease. The result, more often than not, was children who were wheeled away to the OR sobbing or screaming as their parents disappeared from view. The kids didn't understand what was happening, and fear was the inevitable response.

Experiences are quite different for children awaiting surgery at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

"It's very rare that you see (crying) here," Worman says. "We have a high, high compliance rate. They're prepared, so the anxiety level is down."

Much of that preparation comes in the form of education -- making sure the children understand why they're having surgery, and what will happen in the operating room.

"It's going to feel like a minute or two -- that's how fast it's going to happen," Worman tells 7-year-old Amanda, who's about to have her tonsils removed. He assures her that she will sleep soundly through the entire operation.

"Me and the doctors could be doing karaoke, and you'd never know it," he jokes. "That's good, because we're not very good at karaoke." Amanda giggles, reassured.

Worman translates medical terminology into kid-friendly language: anesthesia is "goofy gas" or "sleepy potion"; doctors' scrubs are "pajamas." He also lets kids know they can bring a favorite comfort item -- a blanket or stuffed animal -- into the operating room with them. For children who don't bring their own, a teddy bear is offered (courtesy of a doctor who last year donated 1,500 bears to the hospital in memory of his wife). Even teens draw comfort from the fuzzy toys -- as long as they don't look too babyish.

"We have cooler bears for older kids," Worman says.

Environment plays a key role in the success of the Preprocedure Area. Bright colors, bubble walls and an activity area stocked with toys, books and a drawing board provide distractions that help children forget why they're there. For kids too old for the play area, Play Stations and TVs are available.

One unique feature of the area is private rooms where families can wait, rather than the typical large room partitioned with curtains. Though curtained areas are the norm for hospitals, Preprocedure Clinical Manager Pat Larsen thought the new Phoenix Children's Hospital should offer a better option.

"To me, it never felt right," she says. "Sometimes families just need that alone time," Larsen says.

When planning for the new hospital began, Larsen worked closely with architects to develop a child-friendly space with 16 private rooms and a play area -- something else she considers vital to this innovative area.

"Play is what children do," she explains.

The combination of education, comfort and a child-friendly environment has resulted in a place where children are usually smiling as they make their way to the operating room. Even staff have been amazed at the success of this new area of the hospital.

"The kids are almost calmer than we expected them to be," says Michelle Hinckley, a Preprocedure nurse.

But nobody is more amazed than the parents.

Tiffany Campbell prepared herself for the worst when she brought her daughter Kiana in for surgery in November.

"Any type of medical procedure, she absolutely freaks out," Campbell says. A previous visit to another hospital, for tests, had been a nightmare. The 6-year-old hid in the back of the family's van and had to be carried into the hospital, "screaming at the top of her lungs," her mother says. "That's what I was expecting (at Phoenix Children's Hospital)."

When the family came to the hospital for a pre-admission tour the day before Kiana's surgery, Worman quickly eased the girl's fears. He joked with her, showed her around the hospital, and told her about the toys available in the activity area.

"He made it so fun for her, and she knew what to expect," Kiana's mom says. "He really got her excited about all the fun things she would be able to do when she came in for surgery."

One thing that impressed Campbell was the fact that her daughter was given options. She was allowed to choose the color of her anesthesia mask (pink) and the flavor of the "sleepy potion" (bubble gum). She also had choices for how she would go to the operating room: she could walk, be pulled in a wagon, drive a toy car, or ride on a bed. Kiana chose the car -- the hands-down preference of most surgery patients.

"They let her know she had choices," Campbell says. "They really give the kids a sense of control."

Still, Campbell was expecting a few tears when the time came for Kiana to be wheeled away to surgery. Instead, her daughter simply smiled bravely and said, "Bye, Mom. I love you."

"That, to me, was a miracle," Campbell says. "What they did was absolutely amazing."

With as many as 50 children passing through the Preprocedure Area in a single day, Worman can give individual attention to not quite half of them. But he's trained each nurse in the coping techniques he uses with the kids.

Sheri Newsome, one of those nurses, learned early on that bubbles and teddy bears go a long way toward calming the younger children.

"You can distract them with toys," she says. "You have to take your time a little bit more, and play a little bit more." A 15-year employee of Phoenix Children's, she says her role in Preprocedure is "a different kind of nursing," and one she loves.

"I make a difference back here, just helping the kids and parents get through here," she says.

Larsen carefully chose staff she knew would make that kind of difference when she began the hiring process for the Preprocedure Area.

"The people here really set the tone for the whole hospital," she says. "I looked for people who are upbeat and really wanted to do this job. The attitude makes a huge difference.

"I wanted families to walk away and say, 'Wow. My child had to have surgery, but what a great experience.'"

Feedback from parents indicates that this is, indeed, the typical experience in Preprocedure.

"I have more parents tell me how wonderful this place is," Hinckley says. One mom stopped her in a hallway the day after Hinckley helped the woman's teenage daughter through a pre-surgery blood draw. The woman hadn't been with her daughter at the time, but the girl's demeanor afterward told her all she needed to know.

"I don't know what you guys do here," the woman said, "but whatever you do -- keep doing it."

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Re: Child Life Month
« Reply #2 on: Mar 12^th, 2004, 3:07pm »

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Just wanted to share a bit of what these wonderful staff members at my hospital do.

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Re: Child Life Month
« Reply #3 on: Mar 12^th, 2004, 5:55pm »

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on Mar 12^th, 2004, 3:06pm, Insane_4_Survivor wrote:

Bubbles, Bears & Goofy Gas
A little fun goes a long way - especially right before an operation
Date: 02/23/03

Still, Campbell was expecting a few tears when the time came for Kiana to be wheeled away to surgery. Instead, her daughter simply smiled bravely and said, "Bye, Mom. I love you."

That's wonderful...thanks for sharing the info with us!

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Re: Child Life Month
« Reply #4 on: Mar 12^th, 2004, 9:02pm »

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on Mar 12^th, 2004, 3:06pm, Insane_4_Survivor wrote:

"It's very rare that you see (crying) here," Worman says. "We have a high, high compliance rate. They're prepared, so the anxiety level is down."

Much of that preparation comes in the form of education -- making sure the children understand why they're having surgery, and what will happen in the operating room.

It's nice to see they do this. I always talk in advance with my kids about any kind of doctor appointments and this has made such a difference. With the dentist we read books about it and then we practiced and pretended. I was the dentist and pretended my finger was a drill and we wiggled his teeth and made sounds, etc. and when it came time he did so good. The nurse was just showering him in compliments on how well he and told me sincerely that she was really amazed at how well he did and wanted to know what books we read exactly, etc. So I know it really made a difference.

This coming week we have kindergarten vaccinations coming up. So my 5 year old and I have been talking about that and at my mom's suggestion had him pinch the back of his hand and talked about how that's what it will feel like and that it won't really hurt any more than a pinch, so not to be scared of how much it will hurt, etc. Knowledge helps reduce fear, absolutely. It's wonderful to see these people doing that.

« Last Edit: Mar 12^th, 2004, 9:02pm by Rhune »

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