Multidisciplinary Perspectives of the Impact of Child Life Services in the Emergency Room and Radiology

Abstract

Kristin Brown, Marlena Tolland, Jenna Read and Austin Thorn

Child life specialists focus on the psychosocial care of hospitalized children by assessing stress points and providing evidence- based interventions to promote coping. However, little is known about how clinical staff perceive child life interventions and responsibilities. The goal of this study is to add to the existing literature in the field of child life to better support child life specialists in understanding how various healthcare professionals’ views of the child life profession contributes to patient care. A total of 89 out of 154 eligible staff at Nemours Children’s Hospital Orlando responded to the survey, including nurses, radiology technologists, emergency physicians, paramedics, registration assistant, patient care technicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. In the ED, the top three perceived responsibilities noted were procedural support, education and preparation, and nonpharmacological pain management. In radiology, the top three perceived responsibilities noted were education and preparation, procedural support, and providing toys/playing with patients. Limitations of this study are due to the limited sample size and the recent growth of this field of study. Future implications land on the desire of participants to have increased child life coverage in both units covered in this study. It is that child life specialists are essential and invaluable members of the healthcare team, but the lack of knowledge of the field of child life and the interventions and responsibilities within has caused child life specialists to be viewed as supplementary team members when compared with other health care professionals.

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