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All in a Day’s Work
Making Hospital Visits Less Scary for Kids
AAMC’s Child Life Specialist Meghan Siegel’s typical
workday includes blowing bubbles for toddlers,
demonstrating medical procedures on dolls, and
encouraging teens to release their frustration by
shooting paint-filled syringes on canvas or paper.
She does all of this and more to help pediatric patients
and their families cope with the social, emotional and
psychological aspects of a child’s illness or hospital visit.
Siegel says AAMC has enthusiastically welcomed
her and her approach. “Everyone here is extremely
receptive,” she says. “They are embracing the Child
Life Program and using it as much as they can to make
things easier on the kids and the families.”
Working with the child life specialist, patient Vette
Andersen-Tippett released his frustration with syringes
filled with paint.
where it hurts, and they breathe rapidly or turn blue. Actors
play the role of worried parents whose computerized “child”
has stopped breathing or gone into cardiac arrest. The team
checks pulses, reads electrocardiograms (EKG) and inserts IVs.
They administer medicines and make care decisions while their
“patients” improve or decline in response to their actions.
“The definition of a critical situation is that things can get better
or worse very quickly,” says Michael Clemmens, M.D., medical
director of the Pediatric Emergency Department and Inpatient
Unit at AAMC, which celebrated its one-year anniversary in April.
“When you’re dealing with a child in critical condition, you want
to be confident that you’re making all the right decisions in a very
timely manner.”
One size doesn’t fit all
“Adult care is one size fits all,” Dr. Clemmens says. But in
pediatrics, needs—everything from equipment size to
medication and dosage—vary constantly. Not long after
the team resuscitated the tiny baby, they encountered a
300-pound teenager who required lifesaving intervention.
“We care for all of them,” Dr. Clemmens says. “A 6-day-old is
different from a 6-week-old, who is different from a 6-month-old
or a 6-year-old.
“This training takes our skill sets to the next level. A vital part of
that is ensuring that pediatric emergency care is as good as it can
be. We want to be ready for any emergency.”
Improve your parenting skills and get expert
advice from Denise White, AAMC family educator,
at
facebook.com/SafeSmartU
.