Tag Archives: medical play

Teddy Bear Clinic 

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Another fun event my team and I hosted in honor of child life month was a teddy bear clinic. This event is usually a great hit with the patients and families.

We started off by giving each “doctor” their patients chart. Here we included some information on the “top 10 reasons to call your child life specialist” as well as information on the different stations at the event.

 

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These are all of our “bear-y” sick patients. We contacted our marketing department and they had many bears with our hospital’s logo that they were happy to donate to us!

img_4854-1This first station is where our “doctors” would gown up and get ready to treat their patients. This was a very popular station and it was so adorable to see kids proudly walking around looking like doctors.

 

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The next station was triage followed by the IV station. We had a CCLS at each of these stations helping guide the “doctors” as they cared for their patient. Here is where we were able to sneak in our education & address misconceptions.

 

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Here’s a closer look at our triage station and IV station.

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Finally, the patients were able to do an x-ray by dipping our demo bear into white paint and smudging it on black paper. This was a very fun and creative way to incorporate medical art into our teddy war clinic.

Some other activities we had at the clinic were a photo booth station with props and a table with markers, crayons, and construction paper for the “doctors” to write a get well soon card to a patient in the hospital. We also included band-aids and gauze at this station to continue to promote medical art. Needless to say our clinic was a big success and all of our teddy bears were cured. Thanks, doctors!

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Child life month

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Child life month is well underway! One of the fun things we set up for our patients and families so far was a child life month kick off carnival. Some of the fun activities we offered were: 

A medical myster box

Saline bag toss


And spin the wheel


We also had additional games and of course, prizes, music, and even the hospital clowns came down and paid us a visit!

How have you kicked off child life month at your hospital?

IV / sutures prep doll

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Hi everyone, meet Harper! She is my little mermaid friend that helps me teach my younger patients about two very common ER procedures: IV’s and sutures. With her by my side, I am able to explain to little ones how this is going to help them & yes, that even mermaids get this done sometimes too. At first Harper only had an IV and I would bring her around especially after very tearful IV starts. She’s served as a window for me to be able to talk about their/her IV without tears flowing again.
One day, I was helping a little 4-year-old that was getting sutures placed on her foot. She did fantastic throughout my prep before & during the procedure itself. However, when she saw the finished product she began to cry & exclaimed “the doctor put thorns in my foot!” – I knew then I needed something, or someone, to help me show kids what it will look like after the procedure. I didn’t have another stuffed friend so Harper stepped up to the task. Luckily she has long hair so I just cover up whichever arm I don’t need to show.

* Because of infection control issues, Harper is only for show. She does not stay with the patients nor do they get to play with her. Sorry kids, Harper is too sensitive for human germs!*

Teddy bear casting clinic

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Today my fellow CCLS & I helped in hosting a teddy bear casting clinic outside of a local children’s theater. It was so much fun! The kids loved learning how to cast their bears & being able to feel the supplies used. We successfully casted tons of Teddy’s with broken arms and legs.

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(No teddy bears were hurt during the making of this event.)

Syringe painting

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One of my favorite activities to do with my patients is syringe painting. I haven’t had much of a chance to do it in a while and last week I finally got the opportunity! I was supporting a very spunky & brave 7-year-old during her IV start which took a long time because her veins were “very sleepy” and “not popping out”. She began to ask questions about everything the nurse was using and different medical equipment in the room. I was able to pull out some medical supplies she could manipulate and become familiar with, including syringes. When I showed it to her she seemed confused, asking where the needle was. After I explained to her that the needle is placed if needed, I realized “this is a great patient to do syringe painting with!”
Once her IV was placed, I went and brought back some paint in medicine cups, construction paper, a syringe (of course), and some q-tips to spread the paint around the paper. She had a blast painting with medical supplies!

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This website has lots of fun hospital-themed printables!

Source: http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/doctor-nurse-crafts.html#doctorbag

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Here’s another great activity my friend Alex had for our practicum project – a medical mystery box! This was one of my personal favorites and the kids who participated really loved it as well. Check out her descriptions on the side of the picture.

Source: http://pinterest.com/alexasunter/

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I was able to find two options of these fun print outs that would be great for any medical play session! The first option is not free to print out, but there is a sample you can print to get a feel for what you can expect if you buy them. The second option is totally free to download after you make an account with the company you’re downloading it from. I’d say it’s worth it! They are very cool!

The second option of print outs are free and

Source:

Option 1: http://growingplay.blogspot.com/2012/04/pretend-play-box-doctor-hospital.html

Option 2: http://professorpoppins.blogspot.com/2013/03/doctor-pretend-play-kit.html