Effects Of A Therapeutic Medical Play Session For Pediatric Surgical Patients

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

When I was 18, I was involved in a car accident that almost took my life, this caused me to fall into depressive state while I attended college. The depression was due to not knowing who I was as a person without football. Before the accident every aspect of my life revolved around the sport, and I was highly scouted to come the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and play football. It was this whirlwind of emotions constantly plaguing my mind by being immersed in a place that reminded me of something that I could no longer experience. With the assistance of a counselor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, I was able to begin healing. This was a turning point in my life, and it was these sessions that sparked my interest in the field of psychology.

The major stressors of hospitalized children include fear of the unknown and unfamiliar people. Lying to children about upsetting realities, such as their diagnosis or a procedure that is occurring, is ineffective and does not help children deal with stress. Educating children on their treatment better prepares them for stressful situations while hospitalized. While nurses identify crying as a sign of stress, child life specialist recognize crying as an effective coping mechanism for stress (Kaddoura). While both nurses and child life specialists are helpful to treating a child, child life specialists focus on children’s emotions while nurses focus on medical care. The issue here is that not all hospitals have child life specialists, so the emotions of children are disregarded. Although medical care is obviously a priority while a child is hospitalized, a child’s emotion and stress are very important to their recovery and health. Research shows that focusing on children’s emotions with the use of child life specialists makes a difference for children and families. Child life programs have been shown to reduce children’s pain, decrease the emotional distress children feel while in the hospital, and lower parents’ anxiety about their children’s hospital stays

The concept of “pediatric anxiety” emerged as a central theme in a study of pediatric patients in the Pediatric Emergency Department in order to better care for the pediatric population, determine the source of the patient’s fears, along with providing all encompassing care to pediatric patients. Therefore, I decided to examine the concept of pediatric anxiety. Pediatric patients often attribute hospitals, nurses, and doctors with needles as most often the healthy child sees their pediatrician for well child check ups and immunizations. Some pediatric patients have been diagnosed with anxiety and deal with anxiety on a daily basis while others ' anxiety arises with emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Pediatric anxiety in the hospital can be a result of a multitude of factors and can be demonstrated in a multitude of ways. While some patients may scream and cry, others may become withdrawn. Walking into the doors of an unknown place while feeling sick or experiencing pain, can certainly produce anxiety for patients of all ages. Particularly pediatric patients, with their fear of strangers, inability to comprehend the rationale behind illness or providing care for such illnesses and diseases, and fear of "getting hurt or needles" can all be contributors to anxiety. “Hospitalization can be a threatening and stressful experience for children. Because of unfamiliar with the environment and medical procedures and unaware

Often, elementary school counselors are reluctant to suggest play therapy and have perceived barriers to its efficacy. This study surveyed 259 members of the American School Counselor Association about those barriers to implementing play therapy, and the potential solutions that could be used to overcome any reluctance. The typical barriers are logical: training, administration, time, resources, and space. It is not that the counselors as a whole do not believe in play therapy, it is that they cannot always find appropriate resources to implement the tool. The study raises the awareness that in the contemporary school in which budgets and resources are extremely tight, more training, educating faculty and administrators, and even using alternative or personal funds to purchase play therapy materials are often necessary to help students.

There is an increasingly large need for the care provided by certified child life specialists as the healthcare field continues to move toward more well rounded, family-centered care. The stressors and trauma caused by the hospitalization of a family member can leave life-long negative impacts. While the child life field is expanding quickly, little attention has been paid to the psychosocial, emotional, and developmental needs of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients and families. Parents and siblings of infants in NICUs face communication gaps from doctors and nurses, and stress and anxiety when struggling to understand not-so-easily comprehensible medical jargon. Additional negative impacts take effect when attempting to cope with

Trauma has caused hospitalized pediatric patients to become uneasy and anxious with no additional support. Thus, Child Life Services (CLS) is being proposed to Highland Hospital, as it does not currently offer any therapeutic consultations to pediatric patients and families to help ease traumatic feelings. CLS essentially provide a variety of different therapeutic programs to distract hospitalized children from pain, stress and being traumatized after medical procedures.

Children are not just small adults. They cannot always say what is bothering them. They cannot always answer medical questions, and are not always able to be patient and helpful during a medical examination. Pediatric surgeons know how to examine and treat children in a way that makes them relaxed and cooperative. In addition, pediatric surgeons use equipment and facilities specifically designed for children. Most pediatric surgical offices are arranged and decorated with children in mind. This includes the examination rooms and waiting rooms, which may have toys, videos, and reading materials for children. This helps create a comfortable and nonthreatening environment for your child.

The author wrote this journal article to express what a Child Life Specialist is and how they can make the hospital experience less scary for the children. Hospitals are scary for a child because of the noises, machines, and will feel pain that they would not be feeling at home. I am thankful for authors like this one who will write about my future career because most people have never heard of it before. The way that Child Life Specialists can make the hospital environment friendlier is by letting the kids participate in play. There are three types of play including: Normative, Medical and Therapeutic.

The end of play therapy can be a difficult stage of the therapy process for children. If the termination of play therapy experience is not handled properly, children may feel rejected, punished, or experience a sense of loss (Landreth, 2012).

Play serves an important aspect within pediatric ward environments. Not only can play equipment and toys serve as therapeutic tools for patient recovery and rehabilitation, play distracts from illness realities, diminishes anxiety, and facilitates family bonding opportunities. These moments of diversion perhaps allow children’s growth and development to remain on course for physical and mental areas not directly impacted by the illness or injury, providing a sense of normalcy – not only for the children, but for surrounding family members as well.

Play is a way for children to learn about their environment and how interaction occurs within. It is through trial and error that children are able to create options; follow their own interests and show “independence in thought and actions” using their knowledge and understanding (Moyles, 2005, p.3). Children develop resilience though play. However for a number of children can experience stressful occurrences during their lives and play can often be restricted. Therefore the play worker’s role in supporting children’s play is a crucial measure towards children's development. For those that work with children require the dexterity to prompt and contribute to children’s play, which can be seen as a principle aspect of therapeutic alliance.

The primary result was behavioral distress assessed using the Observational Scale of Behavioral Distress–Revised. The children were also videotaped to assess their distress-related behaviors every 5 minutes before, during, and after the procedure. The secondary outcomes included child-reported pain using the Face Pain Scale, “ranged 0 to 10,” and the heart rate measured with a “cardiorespiratory monitor”; additional outcome included, parent and medical staff satisfaction using Likert scales and parental anxiety using the “State Trait Anxiety Inventory” (Hartling et al., 2003, p. 2 and

Young children, especially after surgeries, may not have the mental alertness/orientation to provide care for him or her self. It is paramount to education the child’s support group/caregivers to compensate for the lack of patient independence.

In the aim to reduce anxiety or fear in children Karen Salmon rather than undergoing with the procedure without explaining to the child what is going to be happening they decide to instead to narrate the procedures using visual cues and/or props. Many times parents prefer to avoid talking about the procedure with their children and they go in scared, anxious, and not knowing what to expect which increases the stress and fear that the child has which is why the child will recall that encounter. Another major factor is the parents, if the parents are avoidant and not responsive to the child during the procedure it can alter what is encoded in their brain and what they can later remember. Families become stressed either because of their daily visits to the hospital along other stressing factors. That stress causes parents to not be fully there for their children and to be a little detached from the situation and not helping children cope with their emotions.