Pain Management

Hospitals.  Pain.  Needles.  Surgery.  Procedures.  

All words and things that scare children, especially for those who are ill.

It is the roll of Child Life Specialists to help those words be not so scary to children and families.  

All of the Child Life Specialist interviews that I spoke to talked about working with children in pain.  Not only is the hospital a scary place for children but most of the time when a child is in the hospital they are faced with some amount of pain.  Whether it be putting in an IV, getting a shot, to some more extreme pain like that of surgery, or the pain suffered from an illness.  What children as well as adults have a hard time doing, is using words to express their pain.  Thats when in a hospital, a Child Life Specialist can come into play.  While talking to Meghan, she talked about the ability to use distractions with the patients that she works with.  On the cardiology floor of a children's hospital she is able to use things like light spinners, Ipads, and even guided meditation and guided imagery to help alleviate fears and distract from pain.  June, who works in the same hospital but in the ED talked about some of the same distractions for pain like using an Ipad for distraction while a child is receiving an IV.  Both Meghan and June talked about using play as distractions from pain as well.  In particular both women referenced using bubbles and pinwheels to help control a child's breathing during an episode of pain or when they need to relax.  However, because of COVID-19, these little exercises can't be preformed.  I know when I interned in the Alternative Learning Program that deep breathing techniques can also be done by having the child lay flat and placing a hand on their stomach and watching it move up and down.  Unfortunately for a child, that is no where near as much fun or distracting as bubbles. 

However, Shayla coming from a urban and underfunded hospital wasn't able to talk to me about using expensive Ipads and Light Spinners for a way to distract children from pain.  However she was able to bring me back to my readings on play therapy.  Shayla talked about in an ideal world using traditional medical play therapy with her patients involving child life prep with dolls and medical supplies.  It is interesting that from my readings dolls are one of the biggest forms of play within the hospital.  Child Life Specialists along with nurses and doctors can use a doll to represent the child.  By the child showing them on the doll where the pain is located they can better understand how to treat the child.  In addition a child can learn and better understand any medical equipment or procedures that are going to happen by representing it on a doll.  As Shayla puts it, the child is being introduced to the materials in a less threatening way.