Hospital play

[Ruthierhyme]

Don't worry , I can assure you negative is very positive !!

I understand exactly where you're coming from, we are all front line workers dealing with information.

I can't unfortunately make excuses for why the world is not fair - why one hospital has a wonderful play service in operation and yet a neighbouring one has none .. life currently isn't always fair and acceptance and understanding of that is important realising what needs to change in order to provide for everyones needs.. this is no different if you're 2 years old or 102 years old.

By presenting the enormous variety of Job titles and their roles in society we all as educators empower ourselves to deliver that information in a huge selection of ways, none of which can probably be predicted or planned with confident precision .. individuality is indeed, incredibly individual!

How we respond to situations is our continual learning curve .. how we cope with pre conceived knowledge and the effects that this has had is as an important part of our own self development as it is that of our team mates.

Working together to pool information is the progessive way forward, if the outcome of that is negative it will inevitably present its own dilemas and learning experiences .. more optimistically I hope that by sharing information we can begin to provide more opportunities for positive outcomes.

So please don't worry about letting us know your thoughts .. we can at the end of the day help each other learn about what goes on in our own different environments

Hi Ruth

I'm so glad that I didn't upset anyone by sharing my feelings about using visiting hospital as a learning experince.

I would prefer to see childcarers, and playworkers and managers researching what the local specialist play provision is at the hospital(s) the children from their setting are likely to receive treatment.

Find out the name(s) of the children's wards, if the employ a play specialist or play worker and find out the name of the play specialist and if you are able to send referals to them.

Find out if other depts in the hospital(s) employ a play specialist, such a the emergency dept & outpatients dept. That way if you know a child is going for an appointment or taking the child to the emergency dept due to an accident, you can tell the parent to ask for the play specialist and give them the play specialist's name.

Many Community Nursing Services now employ a play specialist to visit children in the own homes, if there is a child with a chonic long term condition or complex special needs. It could be very useful if the childcare setting had a contact number and name of the play specialist from a community nursing service(if they employ one) just in case one of your settings children becomes seriously unwell or you asked to have a child who has recovered from such a condition.

If a child voices issues regarding hospital treatment it is always inportant to discuss these issues on a one to one. If you don't know the answers to their questions, say so, but tell them you will find out and tell them. I have often over the years had nursery nurses and playwokers phoning me, at the hospital, to ask how would be the best way to explain issues regaring treatment and hospital admission. I am always happy to help. Please don't feel that you don't need others help with what to say, as it can have very long term consequences for this child's health care.

I have always felt it strange that it is very common place in many setting to liaise with speech therapists, health visitors etc but rarely the play specialist which is a shame.:sorry:

I do hope many more people who work with children are aware of their local play specialist(s) and their range of provision to them can liaise with them to best help the children.

hattyhar

[Ruthierhyme]

Hattyhar, do you utilise the Speech therapy networks that you know of ?

I'm sure they would be able to let the Preschools know about your services during informal & formal communications.

We were always pleased to recieve contact from appropriate service providers, it greatly helps in being able to keep parents informed of current news & make organising of duties much easier !

Have you considered contacting nahps & hpset to see if they have plans to promote your/their work more widely .. publish a poster perhaps and maybe even a database of national contacts, maybe even PALS.nhs.uk, to see if they can register a list of internal contact points that 'frontdesk enquiries can be directed to ?

Hi

I have links with all the various professionals within my hospital and good links with various community professionals within my area. But maybe be speech therapy networks would be a good idea.

It is a diffiuclt one, because hospital play specialists and community play specialists are often small in number in many hospitals. I am the only qualified hospital play specialist in my whole NHS Trust and one part time play worker and we cover three wards, outpatients, the hospital's children's centre, A&E. We are more than happy to help with any issues relating to children, and it would always be helpful if a professional who knows a child well could inform us inadvance of their attendance in hospital that they had some issues. I don't think it would be helpful to use PALS to direct people to us from the front desk. I worked somewhere before where we tried something a little like this and we were overwhelmed with calls being fielded to us that really weren't anything to do with our role. It took time away from working with the children on the ward, and was not actually helping an other children either.

I actually sit on the NAHPS Executive Committee myself already. Both NAHPS and HPSET, like many charities, are made up mostly of professionals who work full time in in that profession themselves and give time voluntarily. HPSET & NAHPS are both quite busy working on larger issues at goverment and Dept of Health level, as well as organising study days, publishing information for play specialist and many other things.

It is not that childcarers and playworkers having little understanding of our role is a hugh problem, as I'm sure many hospital play staff would feel they were probably already overworker and spread too thinly already. But I feel by communitcating with many child care professional on a site like this means I can increase knowledge of the profession and in turn provide a beeter service to children.

hattyhar

[Air]

Hi hattyhar
I have found all your comments really interesting....I recently wrote an essay...as part of my EYFD...on Bereavement, and I found the whole arena of hospitals and medical staff, and the resulting overpowering emotions that sickness and loss can evoke, a very difficult and somewhat conflicting subject....we often can do more harm than good...when all we want to do is help..

Hi Air

Thanks for your comments, and I do totally agree with you. Bereavement, serious illness, hospitals can all being very difficult issues to talk about with children and I know that nursery nurse training did not give me the complete set of skills to deal with these issues in all situations.

When we all train to work with children, what ever the qualification, we do cover such a wide range of topics and age ranges, we learn such a large amount of information and skills. However qualified childcarers, nursery nurses & playworkers who saw a child with with an unusual rash on a child we would recomend they visited the doctor and if a child had real difficulties with speech we may suggest consulting a speech and language therapist. I think it would be great if a issue surrounding hospital or a long term medical issue arose that childcarers, nursery nurses & playworkers would feel able to either suggest a family contact the play specialist at the hospital they are receiving treatment or maybe with the parents permission contact the play specialist at the local hospital to discuss it.

I know that if the ward had a child who had regressed developmentally due to a serious medical condition, nurses or myself may contact the child's nursery or pre school to find out about developmental mile stones the child may have previously achieved. I hope childcarers feel they can contact a play specialist to discuss issues too.

I do sometimes wonder whether it is in the training we receive. I know when I trained as a nursery nurse, which was a few years ago, that I was only really told about a hospital play specialist as a professional who a child may see in hospital or as a possible career option, not as a professional to liaise with. I wonder if this is the same today, for people training with work with children??

I do feel that is one of the wonderful things about sites like this one. You are able to find out many peoples different feelings and perspectives on topics.

hattyhar

[Chelltune]

What sort of props/equipment do you use? I've just been ordering stock for my website, the company have some lovely little glove puppets for various occupations inclucing medical staff. You've inspired me to order some.

I read on another forum about people looking for bears/dolls with hearing aids to encourage their children to wear them. The Bear Factory in America sell little hearing aids, crutches, etc for bears.

Hi

I use all sorts of equipment for my job, including lots of puppets. I actually have one of puppets listed on your website "Louis" who I have used to sign to children with, he is great. I also love this puppets because although it is meant to be a boy I think it could be a boy or a girl, so I use it and let the child name the puppet.

I am really excited to hear that you have ordered some glove puppets for various medical staff. Play specialists often make the equipment they need as it can be difficult to buy the equipment thet we need. How wonderful that The Bear Factory provides little hearing aids etc for their bears, I didn't know they did that. It is really hard to find these sort of things in the UK.

I have just looked at your website, I will put a link to your website on the play specialist discussion site, if thats ok.

Do you ever advertise or do stalls at exhibitions? It is just that the National Association of Hospital Play Staff print a magazine which has a few adverts in, and each year it holds an Annual Conference which has a range of stall of equipment that would be useful to play specialists. Your equipment sounds fab, I'm sure so many people would feel the same.

hattyhar :)

[Chelltune]

Thanks for your comments/replies. The Living puppets are fab aren't they I was going to ask you about whether there was provision for Deaf children or not? You mention that you sign.

The puppets I have ordered are just very simple glove puppets, suitable for use from birth. I'll have a doctor, nurse and a few other professions such as a lollipo lady, police man/women, etc.

I've not advertised much yet, the site is just over a year old and the product range is expanding all the time. I'd be ever so grateful if you would post my link. I've looked at fairs/exhibitions but they are so expensive.

Yes I do sign. I've used both BSL and Makaton. I worked for a while many years ago at a school for children who are deaf, and learnt so much from the children there.

I try to make sure there is provision for every child who may come on to our ward for treatment, but I'm always deciding I need more stuff, then have to start trying to find the money.:weepy:

I have put a link on the Play Specialist Dicussion site, when our next conference is planned I can let you know how much it would cost if you like. It shouldn't be nearly as much as other fairs or exhibitions as the National Association of Hospital Play Staff (NAHPS) is a charity, we are normally only aiming to cover our costs at our conferences. It is more important to us that there are exhibiits that are useful to play specialists. I think your equipment is quite individual, and it would be very popular with play specialists.

hattyhar