Disclaimer: This podcast does not provide medical advice. The information on this podcast is for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Multi disciplinary care teams in hospitals are a team of healthcare professionals who work together to provide thorough and coordinated care to patients. One of those important roles are those of Child Life Specialists. While you make think of them as hospital educators for the pediatric patients, they do so much more! Infants, children and youth often can have stressful or traumatic experiences related to their healthcare experience, with feelings of fear, confusion, isolation and loss of control. These negative feelings can often impact physical and emotional well-being not to mention an overall negative association with health care in general. By incorporating play (which has a profound impact!), activities to help with preparation for a procedures or surgery and education for the whole family to lesson anxiety and fear, we can see a great shift in patient outcome. On this episode of the Baby Steps Nutrition Podcast, Argavan speaks In with Kristen Beckler, a Child Life Specialist III and Student Program Coordinator currently working at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in San Francisco, California. She has more than 20 years of experience working as a Child Life Specialist and Recreation Therapist. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Tennessee, before going on to complete her Masters of Education in Information Science and Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In this episode, Argavan and Kristen discuss the impact of play on the in- and out patient experience and why Child Life Specialists are a valuable part of the multidisciplinary care team. Furthermore, Argavan and Kristen mention why specialized training to work with children is important and where the future of Child Life Specialty is headed in a variety of settings.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Tips to support the vaccination experience (Flu shot and other shots)
Tips to help your child with vaccinations
For more on Kristen Beckler and Child Life at UCSF, you can check out https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/services/child-life, follow her on LinkedIn @KristenBeckler or contact her via kristen.beckler@ucsf.edu.
For more on Argavan Nilforoush, be sure to follow her on Instagram @babystepsnutrition, on Facebook page: Baby Steps Nutrition Podcast, on Twitter @argavanRDN, on LinkedIn @ArgavanNilforoush and through her website www.babystepsnutrition.com.