Child Life Program Helps
Prepare Children for the Hospital
Needles, beeping machines, odd-looking beds, and rooms full of strangers: A hospital can be a scary place. Imagine being hospitalized as a kid. Although it is the last place we want to imagine our kids going to, it happens. Children get hospitalized, too. And during this potentially frightful experience, there are people whose jobs are to prepare and educate kids and their parents on what to expect.
Child Life specialists help the child as a patient to understand and explain what they see, hear, smell, and feel as they go through their hospitalization experience. They relate to a child in a way that helps them feel comfortable and build trust. They provide diversions or distractions from uncomfortable situations like tests or procedures. Also, through the Child Life Department, a San Bernardino County School teacher provides instruction for children who miss school because of extended hospital stays.
Here are some tips to help you and your child through a hospital visit or stay:
- Give them support. Provide them with human contact, especially babies, by holding, rocking, or singing to them.
- During a procedure, give them comfort by stroking or patting them, or encouraging them to concentrate on something else, such as blowing bubbles or squeezing a stress ball.
- Provide them with age-appropriate toys, games, and activities for diversion and distraction. Play relaxing music or read to them.
- Be honest. Tell them what is happening, such as if they are going for a test or a procedure. Also, be specific and clear about what is going on, especially when dealing with smaller kids. For example, a stretcher is not a machine that will stretch them out!
March/April 2006 A Healthy Tomorrow
The editorial content of this online publication is taken from the print version of A Healthy Tomorrow published by Loma Linda University Medical Center.