Top 3 Hospital Areas for Distraction Tools
As part of celebrating Child Life Month, we are doing a giveaway of one of our most popular distraction tools, Game Pack. As part of contest entry, we asked child life specialists, “Where in your hospital could you most use a distraction tool like Game Pack?” So far, we have received more than 60 responses and were very interested to see a lot of commonalities and also some creative ideas.
Most common areas:
Waiting areas. This was no surprise as this was the purpose for which Game Pack was designed, but what was interesting is that many CLS's mentioned surgery or OR and the waits that happen around those procedures. Waits prior to surgery can create high anxiety for pediatric patients and using distraction therapy can result in lower anxiety.
Emergency department. This answer was no surprise as well. Several CLS’s cited increased wait times post-COVID, and the difficulty in managing those waits with their team size. Research shows that child life reduces anxiety for pediatric patients in the ED and the American Academy of Pediatrics endorses that health care professionals have a responsibility to address anxiety and create favorable environmental conditions for pediatric patients in the PED setting.
Hematology/Oncology. Pediatric patients have lots of waiting time during infusions and other treatments/procedures that have a long time duration. Patient satisfaction is linked to duration of chemotherapy, and can be improved by addressing the patient experience.
We also loved hearing about these examples of use cases that we thought were really creative:
Motivator for mobility in rehab/PT
Near ED hallway beds
Radiation therapy distraction
We love to hear about all the practical uses for distraction therapy tools from child life specialists and are grateful for the work they do with our most vulnerable patients.