Communicating with Pediatric Patients and Their Families Essay

Communication is a crucial skill for every Child Life Specialist to possess as a professional. Each day the Child Life Specialist must communicate with not only the parents, but also the child and his or her siblings. However, the specialist cannot converse with children in the same manner they do with adults. Children require alternate means of communication because they are not always fully able to convey their thoughts and emotions with words alone. As a result, the Child Life Specialist may utilize therapeutic

As child practitioners we must work on our skills in communicating with children because the way we communicate with them is important not only for their communication and language development, but also the development of our relationship with them. Young children often aren't able to express their thoughts and feelings in words, or express them poorly. Because of this, it's important that child practitioners can listen carefully and help children to learn how to express themselves and also provide what they need.

When the children are incapable, nurses have moral responsibility to assist parents in decision making in the children's best interest. "Substituting an adult judgement of what is in a child’s best interest is not necessarily equivalent with the child’s best interest (Coyne and Harder, 2011)." Acting in a child’s best interest requires parents and health professionals to take children's view seriously and give priority consideration to the impact of their decisions on children (Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children (CCRC). The adults have responsibilities towards their children to enable them in making decision but they do not have rights to make decision for their children (Lowden, 2002). Children should not be viewed as property. The first step in protecting the rights of children as outlined in the CRC is to view them as citizens (Van Daalen-Smith, 2010). When parents claim that the child belongs to them, they are establishing an ownership notion. Children should be respected as active contributor not as passive recipient of the health care (Maconochie and McNeill, 2010). Therefore, parental role in decision making for their children should be complementary not

It is important to quickly identify where a child could be having difficulties in building relationships with adults or fellow pupils. There may be a number of underlying issues affecting the child’s relationship building abilities and it is therefore necessary to isolate and try to resolve these issues.

“The overall goal for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project is to meet the challenge of preparing future nurses who will have the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work”("Graduate KSAs," 2014 para.1) In looking through the competencies that this statement embodies, I have chosen the competency of safety. This competency is defined as minimizing the risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance (2014). The topic I have chosen to discuss in regards to safety is the role that the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) plays in the recognition and the treatment of teen suicide. According to the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey (2013) suicide among teens and adolescents is a major health problem. It is the 3rd leading cause of death in 10-24 year olds in the United States. In the survey, 17% of students reported seriously considering suicide in the 12 months prior to the survey (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2013). With these reported numbers in the pediatric population, it is of vital importance that the PNP as the primary care provider (PCP) knows how to appropriately screen for, refer and treat this patient. This paper discusses the suicidal teen and the role of the PNP to promote the

Children learn how to build relationships with others by watching and copying the relationships between the adults around them. It is, therefore, important to show effective communication skills

Effective communication, and respectful relationships are vital when talking with children, young people, and adults as they both allow accurate gathering of information and feelings and the subsequent passing along of any issues that may need to be followed up on.

1) To build therapeutic relationships with paediatric patients and their families in order to establish patient and family centered care.

Communicating With Children, Adolescents and More Than One Patient at A Time. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.skillscascade.com

(Jayne Crow 2010) stated that just the way you laugh can influence the way a patient reacts with you. For example laughing at someone compared with someone can help “to equalize the power relationship in a situation and empower the service user.” Laughing can help to lighten a situation and can be a way of bonding with a patient. The patient feels as though they can trust the nurse and are more likely to open up about their feelings or if anything is wrong. Communication comes in many forms. (Barbara Scammel 1990) has outlined many different types of communication such as direct and indirect verbal communication, writing, body language, kinesics, touch, gestures. A patient may be in a coma but that doesn’t mean they cannot hear you. The power of the voice can do many things, ie, to comfort them, to know that someone is with them and that there not alone. A patient’s life can be in danger with the inability of a doctor and patient to communicate with each other. (Saha, S and Fernandez, A 2007) stated that the efficiency and provision on basic health care services are interfered with language barriers and being unable to understand. As a nurse it is vital to make sure all the information is necessary to give out the best patient centred care. This cannot be done if there is no communication line with the patient. (Saha, S and Fernandez, A 2007) translating one word in other languages may be

Clear and effective communication between partners is required because you have to share information about children’s learning and development, this is particularly important because when sharing information it is crucial that there are no mistakes made as this can then affect the information that has been shared and also you must ensure there are no barriers within the communication; also when working with partners effective communication is also

The use of best practices, including conveying empathy, effectively using language and being patient centered, in the development of skillful communication is essential when communicating the medical professional's understanding, compassion and empathy to the seriously ill or terminally ill child's parent(s) and is critical to the provision of compassionate, safe and effective care. Development and Use of Best Practices The use of best practices by a pediatrician is important in developing, using and improving effective communication. However, development and use of best practices does not begin after medical school. Research has shown that when medical students or professionals are educated on communication can be as important as what and how communication is taught. It is "important to understand what techniques are most efficacious, time-efficient, and cost-efficient to achieve the goal of more consistently achieving effective, empathetic, and culturally appropriate communication that meets the needs identified by patients and parents" (Levenson, 2015, 1444).

Some people have many kinds of goals. It is hard to give exact number people who are majored in nursing, but one thing that I know is that the demography is very wide and large. This is because people have different reasons for majoring in this career. I believe the best reason for majoring in nursing is because it has wide varieties of a career that one can major in. I find myself to be a pediatric nurse as my career. Pediatric nurses have great benefits, good salary, and I love spending my time with children.

Communication is an effective key in pediatric palliative care. The topic of a dying child is a very sensitive matter. Many times communication about managing the child’s pain and the necessary measurements needed to ease progressive pain are not discussed thoroughly among health care providers, parents, and even the child. The result is that parents and the sick child do not have the opportunity to express their concerns and feelings. This leads to unnecessary psychological and social distress for the child and the child’s family.

The popular belief among our society has always been “Parents know what's best”. While their kids are young, parents know how to make their medical decisions for them. Parents know what's best for their children, they know how to keep them safe and healthy. However, their children soon turn into teenagers who should be trusted to make their own choices regarding their health care. They’re no longer the children they once were; they can comprehend the extension of every decision they make. Services and treatments should not be restricted to them because of their age or need for parental consent. Teenagers should be given confidential health care and should be trusted to make the choices that regard themselves. They should be allowed the privacy from everyone, including their parents make those choices.