Introduction to Child Life
What is the goal of Child Life service?
The goal of Child Life service is to provide care and support to a child or family that is experiencing or has experienced medical trauma.
What is the first step for assessing a child?
Child Life specialists must look at the child's behavior and developmental ability in order to determine what care is needed. They need to assess the child's past trauma and where they are emotionally.
What is the goal when planning for a child life intervention?
The goal is to provide comfortable, emotionally supportive, and stress reducing care to the patient and family. The goal is to also teach them how to using coping strategies during their difficult experience.
How can a Child Life specialist help prepare a child for a medical procedure?
They can help the child prepare by explaining the procedure to them, if they are age appropriate. They can also role-play the before and after scenes so the child is familiar with the plan. Coping strategies should also be used so the child is able to calm themselves if needed and knows the tools.
Why is is important to evaluate Child Life specialists and interventions?
It is necessary so every member of the care team can understand the effectiveness of their work and how they can better support their patients in the future. They must be educated and trained but evaluation is needed to ensure they are following policies and guidelines.
What is a Child Life specialist?
A Child Life specialist is an educated and trained professional that helps provide deveoplemtally appropriate care plans to the patient. They advocate for and help guide the family about the experience. They are teh supports throughout the entire care plan and help gather a team to serve the patient.
What can a Child Life specialist do to assess a child's understanding of the medical condition or experience?
They can use communication and conversation. They have many tools as well, like the implementation of play and role-playing. Using stories and art expression are also ways to tell how a child is coping.
Who is involved in the care plan process for Child Life intervention?
A child life specialist, the medical team (doctor, RN's), the family, and the child, depending on their age and development ability. All members must collaborate and understand the care plan in order to best support the patient.
How do coping stategies help a child and how may a Child Life specialist implement them?
Coping skills help a child understand their emotions and how to process them when they arise. A child may be filled with fear, anger, sadness, anxiousness, or other emotions. It is vital that they learn what these feelings mean and how they can impact their healing progress. A specialist can practice proper techniques like breathing with the child so they are prepared to the best of their ability.
What feedback is necessary when evaluating Child Life services?
All people involved with the care plan should provide feedback if comfortable. This can determine the success of the intervention and how well the patient benefited from the plan. The patient is the priority and their experience is most important so ensuring they are positively gaining from this intervention is vital.
What is family-centered care and why is it important for Child Life?
Family centered care is inclusion of the patients family during the care plan implementation and the medical experiences. It is important as the family provides the needed comfort and support the child may need as well as more insight into who the family is and how to properly care for them.
How might a family help in the pre-assessment of a child?
The famliy can provide insight otherwise unknown to the specialist like their behaviors at home, how they are at school and with their peers, what they do in their every day lives, how their experience might scare them, or what past trauma they have endured.
What may a Child Life specialist have to consider before planning an intervention?
They must consider the age and development of the patient, their medical condition and past experiences, the family dynamic, and the types of tools they may want to implement. They must consider the culture and lifestyle of the family. They also must reflect and consider any bias they may have.
What is theraputic play and how may it be used in a child life plan?
Theraputic play is administed by a child life specialist and used to help assist in a child's development or allow them to express emotion. It is used throughout the care plan as it distracts the child and can allow the specialist to observe behaviors.
How is success measured after a Child Life intervention takes place?
Observation of the child and family must be implemented as it allows the team to evaluate their growth or present state. They can compare and contrast the child's behavior from the start to the end as well as their emotional development. They may look at coping skills and test how well they have understood those strategies.
What are common tools used by Child Life specialists?
They use play as a technique to understand a child, their emotions, or their developmental state. They use assessments using questionaires about past experiences and home life as well as observation.
Why is assessing a child's development important and when should it occur?
Assessing a child's development will allow the specialist to know what tools they should use in the care plan, how to communicate with the child, and how they may react to the experience. The assessment of the child should occur before intervention to determine where they are at, during intervention to ensure they feel supported and comfortable, and after intervention.
How can a Child Life specialist ensure that the childs's needs are being met with their plan?
They must assess throughout their care plan and collaborate with healthcare providers. The entire care plan team must work together to ensure that all people are supported and comfortable with the plan. It is important that the team is well-versed in the experience and understands the needs.
How may a Child Life specialist intervene during a medical procedure?
They often use techniques such at bringing in toys, telling stories, playing music, or using technology to distract and help ease a child. This also helps the child feel supported so they are less traumatized from the experience. They may teach the parents and medical staff how to use comfort positions so the child feels safe during the procedure.
Can a Child Life specialist adjust their care plan during the intervention? Why may that happen?
A Child Life specialist must adapt to all situations and use their knowledge to know what is benefiting the patient and what is not. They may have to change their play techniques or their way of communication. Every patient is different and will require specific needs. A child's emotional state may change during procedure and the specialist will need to pivot to a new plan. The important thing is that the entire team is on the same page and knows about every aspect of the plan.
What developmental factors does a Child Life specialist consider before an intervention?
They must look at the social-emotional well-being of the child, their cognitive development state, their past experiences, physical abilities, and family life.
What tools would a Child Life specialist use when assessing a child and family?
They use a lot of observation to see how they act in their normal state. They will use interviews with family, friends, and caretakers. They go through a series of checklists that help guide them and make decisions regarding the development of the patient. They will spend time talking with the parents as well as siblings.
What goals can the Child Life specialist set during the planning process?
The Child Life specialist may want to have measurable goals that allow them to track progress with the family and child. These goals will also help the care plan team stay on track and ensure their efforts are being implemented properly.
What skills and qualities should a Child Life specialist exude during implementation?
A specialist must be patient and undertsanidng of the child's emotions. They must be adaptive to every situation and collaborate with the team to best serve the patient. They should present themselves professionally and with integrity while delivering the best possible support.
How can a Child Life specialist ensure long-term success with their patients?
They are expected to have the knowldege and expertise to teach the patient skills they may need for the future. Practice and implementation during the care plan is vital. They can utilize post-service questionnaires and compile feedback to use for the future.