Child development specialists at the Great North Children’s Hospital have launched a creative new initiative – ‘Don’t Delay the Play ‘ – to support families who spend long periods of time in hospital.
Parents often find it difficult to do all the things they would like to with their children when in hospitals for fear of hurting them or upsetting the clinical environment.
Lindsay Carr, children’s occupational therapist and Penny Walsh, children’s physiotherapist, care for children who need to be in hospital for weeks or even months at a time, often supported by medical devices such as cannules, lines, tracheostomies and even Berlin Hearts.
They have designed an interactive poster featuring examples of important developmental play whilst in hospital, giving parents the confidence to interact and play with their child as they would at home and minimise the impact of long hospital stays on the developmental progress of very young children.
“As the developmental physiotherapist and occupational therapist at the Great North Children’s Hospital we have the privilege of sharing a family’s entire journey whilst in hospital” explains Lindsay.
“Over time we could see that some children were not making as much developmental progress as they normally would, because they were hospital.”
In fact Lindsay and Penny observed that many parents and carers felt intimidated by the complex medical surroundings, causing them to feel disempowered when trying to look after their children.
“We regularly receive referrals for children highlighting concerns about developmental delay, head shape, sensory processing needs, communication and feeding difficulties” says Penny.
“After speaking to parents we noticed a pattern. They were worried about picking them up if lines and attachments were involved, or that they might hurt them.”
Lindsay and Penny were inspired to develop a friendly and engaging poster called ‘Don’t Delay the Play’.
Watch this video to find out more.
Click on the poster to enlarge
“We felt that a poster would be a useful resource in a place where the parents could have a look at their own leisure when they had a little downtime on the ward” explains Lindsay. “We wanted to combat feelings of anxiety and help them enjoy their time with their children and have fun.”
The aim of the poster is to empower parents and families of children in hospital from being newborn up to 24 months old.
It provides helpful tips and advice in an easy to follow format so that it can be read again and again and includes innovative technology with QR codes for the reader to scan and find out further information on relevant topics.
