Research has shown many individuals are unaware of Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) and the role they have in healthcare settings. A Child Life Specialist is a professional in pediatric psychosocial advancement who “promotes typical development and minimizes the stress and anxiety of medical experiences for children through the use of psychosocial interventions” (Burns-Nader & Hernandez-Reif, 2016). To be a CCLS a bachelor’s degree in child life must be completed with a hospital internship and pass a national certification. Child Life Specialists are “trained to work with children and their families to develop effective coping strategies in the context of stressful environments, such as hospitalizations and painful procedures” (Murag, …show more content…
This type of play is usually found outside of the hospital, so Child Life will manifest normative play in the hospital, allowing the child to consider the hospitalization or procedure as normal, not stressful, and therefore helps continue regular development. Examples include reading and board games. Medical play “allows for play and exploration involving a medical theme” (Burns-Nader & Hernandez-Reif, 2016). Children are observed while playing with common medical supplies that are involved in the procedure they will be having done. This allows the child to become familiar with the supplies and reduce anxiety. According to the Children’s Health Care journal, “Medical play before a procedure has been found to be effective in reducing distress” (Burns-Nader & Hernandez-Reif, 2016). Lastly, therapeutic play will “help children think and express themselves through difficult events” (Burns-Nader & Hernandez-Reif, 2016). This type of play focuses on enhancing coping skills and is very organized and controlled. Playing with dolls is an example of therapeutic play. Child Life focuses on assessing the child’s needs and therefore all three types of play are encouraged for children. The goal is to assist with children’s coping skills, largely through these three types of …show more content…
It is important to understand that Child Life perform techniques based on a multi-system approach. Preparation and nonpharmacologic strategies are proven successful techniques that Child Life can contribute to decrease pediatric stress. Some examples of the nonpharmacologic strategies that Child Life can perform are “swaddling, vibratory stimulation, breathing techniques, distraction, and visual imagery” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2014). Child Life can provide comfort kits for patients and recommend holding the child in a sitting position instead of flat on their back during stressful procedures to promote comfort rather than punishment. The scientific evaluation from the American Academy of Pediatrics stated, “One Child Life program model showed that Child Life interventions resulted in less emotional distress, better overall coping during hospital stay, a clearer understanding of procedures, and a more positive physical recovery as well as posthospital adjustment for children enrolled” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2014). This also lead to overall higher parent
At Cook Children’s Hospital, NICU parents are not only seen as the parents of the infants, but they also incorporate them as part of the team. Parents are highly encouraged to spend as much time as they possibly can with their premature infants, to have physical contact with them by giving them kangaroo time, which allows parents to have skin-to-skin contact with their infant, as soon as the infant reaches the stage in which he or she is a suitable candidate to be in physical contact with their parents. Siblings who are over 3 are allowed to visit their siblings at the NICU at specific times of the day, and child life specialists help siblings understand what is going on with their baby brother or sister who is in the NICU. If they have any specific questions, the child life specialist is there to assist them. Families are referred to other institutions that will be able to help them if their facilities aren’t able to fulfill their needs. One of the institutions that...
Family centred care and comfort care theory both work for the well being of patient. Family centred care focus to work with family while providing care for the sick child. Family and pediatric staff works in collaboration to make care plan that works the best for sick child (Coyne, O'Neill, Murphy, & Costello, 2011). Similarly, comfort care theory focus on child’s physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural, and environmental aspects. “When comfort needs are addressed in one context, total comfort is enhanced in the remaining context” (Kolcaba & Dimarco, 2005, p. 190). When nurses apply comfort care theory, it is to achieve holistic care of sick children by focusing on all aspects (Kolcaba
I appreciate that you have decided to share your personal experience within this post. Pediatric care is an entity within itself within the medical field. Ill children are extremely difficult to manage as patients and have the tendency to have a rapid change in status while patients in the hospital. Providing safe care for pediatrics during hospitalization is an area that I am not too familiar with. Working the ER I have had many pediatric patients, but the parents always remain with the patient. When peds patients are admitted, hospital protocol states that the patient must be present during the transfer of the patient to the admitting floor. So, in my experience the parent always provides the safety aspect of care in the ER, patient are expected
American Academy of Pediactrics. (2003). Family-Centered Care and the Pediatrician’s Role. Available: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/112/3/691.full. Last accessed 23/01/14.
When it comes to educating children and parents about their child’s surgery or illness, it is important to remember the child’s age. A child and parent do not understand the same terms. For example, when referring to a stretcher a child may think it will stretch them out, a child life specialist may refer to a stretcher as a bed on wheels for children who may not understand this term. There are many child life specialists who go through every detail in an office with
Ginsburg, K. R. (2006). "The Species of the World. " The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent–Child Bonds. USA: American Academy of Pediatrics.
Medical procedures are a common part of life and elicit a great deal of anxiety among people of all ages. Anxiety is defined as a “diffuse apprehension that is vague in nature and is associated with feelings of uncertainty and helplessness” (Townsend, 2009, p. 15). Children experience high levels of procedural anxiety because they do not understand what to expect and they fear the pain they may experience. I was therefore interested in researching whether the presence of parents during painful procedures decreases anxiety in pediatric patients. My desire to someday work with the pediatric population has intrigued me to further understand the importance of this issue to best meet the needs of the patient and family. The topics to be discussed include the benefits of having parents present during painful procedures, the disadvantages of having parents present, and doctors and nurses attitudes regarding the presence of parents.
Rye N. Child-Centred Play Therapy. In: JH Stone, M Blouin, editors. International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation. 2010.
A child life specialist must be able to comprehend and articulate theories regarding child development, the importance of play, and the family system. They also must be able to explain informal and formal techniques used to establish the developmental and emotional state of a child. Additionally, knowledge of applicable previous and current research should be understood and recounted. Identifying issues of family dynamics, differing child care practices, and the family's and child's conception of death, dying, and illness is also a must. Also, a child life specialist must be able to recognize and identify sociocultural differences in a family's dynamic. Finally, a specialist must be able to characterize the process of assessing, planning,
During the preoperational stage children tend to become increasingly skilled or proficient at play acting and pretending, they also role play “mummy” and “daddy”, doctors, nurses to mention a few. For example in week 7 Child C was playing ‘mummies and daddies’ Child C offered to be the mummy laying the table and putting dinner on the table, Child C realised the table cloth was not placed properly on the table, he proceeded to take the cloth off the table and lay it properly. The other children com...
The main purpose of her position is to help children and families with hospitalization, diagnosis, illnesses, and injuries. She stated that she works in the clinic so she sees patients and families from diagnosis or first visits to multiple return visits. She says she builds solid relationships with the children and their families. “It is most rewarding when I’ve spent time with an anxious child and done “everything” (diagnosis, teaching, medical play, procedure education, and support) and slowly see the change from a child not coping well at all, to coping well with support and slowly not needing me at all; it’s a little sad when they tell me they don’t need me to be present, but I know then that I have done my job because they’ve learned the skills to go through a procedure independently” (Tiller, telephone interview, December 8, 2016). Ms. Tiller stated that one of the challenges is that this is a
This stage of development is categorized by imagination and symbolic language. During the beginning of this stage, toddlers spend most of their playtime using their imagination and playing pretend. This helps them to decipher the difference between reality and fantasy. Between the ages of five and seven, these children transition from parallel play, to associative and cooperative types of play behavior. These new play behaviors increase their social skills as they interact with peers, siblings, and parents. During this period, children also start engaging in dramatic play with others. This helps them explore different social roles, such as pretending to be a mother while playing house. Dramatic play opens up an entirely new world to children as they use their imagination with others (Hughes, 2006). By playing in a world that does not provide the child with any negative consequences, they are free to play without
This is a counselling method used to help youngsters communicate their inner experiences through using toys and play. Nondirective play therapy is a non-pathologizing technique founded on the belief that youngsters have the internal drive to attain wellness (Petruk, 2009). Play therapy is grounded on the theory that play is a youngster’s language, the toys considered the words a youngster uses to express or show their inner experiences and how they experience and perceive the world. Within a play session, and throughout the course of sessions, themes develop in the youngster’s play, giving the therapist insight into the child’s feelings, thoughts, experiences, and interpretations of their world (Petruk,
In life, no action is absent of a reaction. Every effect is linked to a cause, whether seen or unseen and play is no exception. As adults, play is not a foreign concept to us, we just chose not to engage in it and have diminutive space for it reserved in our day-to-day schedules. However, it is essential in the lives of young children.
The logic behind this method was to get the children to be able to express themselves accurately by being comfortable and not pressured to do or say anything. When adults go to a psychologist most of the time they lay on a couch and talk about what they are feeling in order for the psychologists to understand what the patient is feeling. Young children cannot do this therefore, Klein established the play technique so children could be analyzed in the same way as adults (Melanie Klein Trust, 2015). This technique allowed “insight into early development” of young children making way for most of Klein’s later theories and work, which develops a whole new section of child psychoanalysis (Melanie Klein Trust,