by Anne Hamilton & Stephanie Martin
Child Life Interns

A day in the life of an intern is never the same from one day to the next, but it always seems to amount to something eventful and new.

After riding the shuttle to Le Bonheur, we began our day by signing in at Volunteer Services. Depending on the rotation, we headed to our unit to get report from the nurses on each patient. Anne spent the beginning days of her internship on 6 West with the orthopedic and hematology patients while Stephanie spent her first four weeks on 6 Central with the diabetes and renal patients.

During this rotation, we learned the basics of introducing Child Life to patients and families, how to write a chart note, and the importance of using the treatment room when possible. We both quickly realized the challenges of being a child life specialist and also how rewarding the job can be.

The next four weeks would be quite different from our inpatient experiences. Anne worked early mornings preparing patients for surgery in the Same Day Surgery Unit, and Stephanie worked late nights in the hustle and bustle of the Emergency Department. Each experience brought an opportunity in which we could learn and grow.

During the last four weeks of our internship, Anne returned to an inpatient unit while Stephanie spent time in a Critical Care unit. Over time, we both gained independence and began to see patients on our own. Whether we were preparing a child for surgery, providing distraction during an IV start, or conducting a sibling visit for critical care, we were practicing Child Life.

Even though our environments and patient population were totally different, we had the same goals.  Our days were spent building rapport, interacting with the medical team, and meeting the various needs of patients and families. Now as it is time to transition from being an intern to a Child Life Specialist, we are prepared, confident, and ready.

by Dana Givens
Child Life Specialist 

My day at Le Bonheur Children's starts out on 7 west which is the cardiac and surgical floor. It is a very busy time in the morning with medical staff are checking charts for patients to go to procedures. I work closely with the medical team to prepare patients for procedures such as going to the Starlight Room, surgery, central line/PICC line placements, and IV starts to name a few.

In the morning I talk with the charge nurse and she fills me in on how the patients are doing and what medical procedure they will be having today. In discharge planning I get more information about the patients and families and what we, as a team, need to do to help them get home. Discharge planning involves many departments working together such as: child life, social work, case management, pharmacy, nutrition, spiritual care and surgery nurse practitioner.

My mid-morning is spent preparing my patients for procedures that they will have. I provide age appropriate/developmentally preparation for patients who will be getting a medical procedure done that might be scary or frightening. I make sure that the patients have an opportunity to have all their fears and questions addressed before their procedure.

I provide this through using pictures, medical equipment, and teaching dolls to prepare patients for their procedures, focusing on what the patient will feel, hear, see and smell. Sometime patients need extra support during their procedures. I am there to help them along the way and provide procedural support, having a familiar face and words of encourage can go along way.

I love to encourage my patients to have some fun! An important part of post surgical care is to get out of bed and walk, or as we say in the hospital, ambulate. One of the ways I encourage my patients to get up and walk is to invite them to join in on the Child Life special events. Game-a-palooza was lots of fun for the patients, families, and staff. I had lots of fun helping my patients' play and they won some cool prizes and got to walk around, which is just what the doctor ordered!

I often use art activities to help me better understand what my patients are going through and how they feel about their hospitalization. Emotions and feelings can often be represented through art. This gives me a chance to make sure they are coping well with being in the hospital. Tie-dyeing was a blast and very informative!

Another way that I make sure that my patients are coping well is to encourage them and their family to use the playroom. What better way to assess how a child is doing than to see them play? Many times patients face situations in the hospital that can be scary. Providing them with a safe environment where they can be themselves is very important to their hospital stay. After all play is what children do best!

As many of you are aware, Le Bonheur Children's sent a medical mission team to help treat the children and families in Haiti.  As an organization, we knew that sending a team was how a world leader in children's healthcare needed to respond.  It is our duty to not only help children in the Mid-South and United States, but any children around the world that need our care.  As the team returned last Friday, it was obvious that we had lived up to our mission.

For the next installment of A Day in the Life, it only seemed fitting to share the experience and perspective of the Le Bonheur Children's Haiti Medical Mission Team.

The team kept a blog of their experiences, which will give you a far more in-depth explanation of their work in Haiti.  I encourage all of you to read it and see all of the good this team did.

In an effort to show the perspective of various people at Le Bonheur Children's, I thought that I would start a new series of posts called A Day in the Life.  Each entry will have people explain in their own words and illustrate through pictures.  My hope is to explore the individual views, roles, and impact that individuals have on the hospital and the hospital has on them.

Never to put anyone through something that I wouldn't do myself, I have decided to try this project out on me, and the great thing is that I can promise that they will only get more exciting after this.  So, here is a look at a Day in the Life of the Director of Child Life:

If you weren't aware from reading this blog, my name is Thomas Hobson, and I have served as the Director of Child Life for a while now.  I believe that I have one of the greatest jobs in the world, bar none.  The truth is that I get to focus my time and effort on to improving the overall experience of patients and families that come to Le Bonheur Children's.  Primarily, I do this through means of working with Child Life Services, but I also work with other groups, such as Le Bonheur Children's Family Partner Council and Teen Advisory Council.

On any given day, I could have a ton of meetings, blog posts to write, and other general work to be done.  However, there are lots of out of the ordinary things that I get to work on, and that is the part of my role that I love the most.  Every day is a new adventure. You never know how and who it will impact, but it's always in a great way.

Photos:

1. Le Bonheur Children's:  This is where the magic of the day, and the bulk of my work, happens.  It's become a second home.
2. Blog Posts:  Hey, these posts don't write themselves, so I'm constantly working on new ideas or following up with others.  It's now part of my daily routine.
3. Help!:  This is Lauren, the Child Life Manager for our team, and her response as I tell her about my Day in the Life idea.  Truthfully, she loved the idea.
4. The Diary:  I've taken a lot of ribbing over this, but there is a lot of information and projects that our team works on.  It can be difficult keeping it together, to I keep my personal notes on the important items in that book.  It's even surprising to me how helpful it is.
5. Elevators:  Working at Le Bonheur Children's can mean riding lots of elevators, but I am working on taking the stairs more often.
6. The Grizzlies visit:  We have lots of special groups and events to help make the hospital an exciting place for our patients and families.
7. The Teen Council:  One of the favorite parts of my job is working with Le Bonheur Children's Teen Advisory Council, who serves as a voice for patients and siblings at the hospital.  This picture was taken duing this past year's Christmas Party at Laser Quest.
8. Walking the halls:  Just like spending time on the elevator, there is a lot of ground to cover at Le Bonheur Children's, and when the new hospital opens, I'll have even more to walk.
9. Say Cheese:  In our publications, we like to have pictures with actually patients and families.  My team works directly with our Marketing team on having patients for these photos.  This is a picture of Meri Armour, Le Bonheur Children's CEO, taking a picture with a patient for an upcoming issue of the Le Bonheur Magazine.
10. Deidre Shores:  Just last month, Memphis' own Kid Reporter, Deidra Shores, stopped by Le Bonheur Children's to host Good Morning Le Bonheur.
11. Meetings:  What would a day be without meetings?  Truthfully, I don't know, I've never had one.  This was taken at a recent Child Life Services staff meeting.
12. The New Buidling:  It takes a whole lot to get ready for our big move, and half of the fun has been watching the building come up.