Laguna State Polytechnic University Sta. Cruz, Main Campus Sta.

Cruz, Laguna

People are afraid to be in the hospital, either an adult or children. But most of all, children are the one who really are afraid to come and be admitted at the hospital. Children may think that being hospitalized was a punishment by having a bad behavior. Because even a child can have their own perception regarding to what their environment is, and what the people are doing surrounding him/her. Fear and pain can only be expressed by the person itself, and no one of us could experience the same feeling at the same time. According to Onman (2000), fear and anxiety has a different meaning. Fear is related to the specific behavior of escape and avoidance while anxiety is the result of threats which perceived to be uncontrollable or avoidable..

Children also have body image and some fear insides that will leak out after receiving an injection or undergoing surgery. But covering all wounds can decrease their anxiety and help decrease their pain perception. As to the environment, place of healing of the pediatrics should be conducive for patients feelings and security. Fear or pain in older childrens pertains to the danger of injury of sharp objects for bleeding and pain. The needle is only a source of fear to the extent that a needle is a necessary part of the procedure that provokes an involuntary reaction of ones body. As children saw a threatening or strange object that can be injected or have a contact to them, the feeling of fear that is pertaining to something dangerous will happen is perceived by the child. Pain is the most common reason why people are going to the hospital. Specially, as children admitted their pain was added with fear because of staying in the hospital and make them to be stressed. Sometimes the pain that felt by the children is caused also of their fear. According to the American Pain Society (APS), pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage as described in terms of such damage.

As for us nurses, there is a new way to make the children comfortable when going or staying in the hospital. Through therapeutic play we can lessen the fear and pain that children are experiencing and also it could be included on our interventions and to make our work easier, like giving medications which divert the childs attention and help us to let the children express their feelings. Therapeutic play is a

Story telling

helped the

children appreciate that they were understood and in a sense , not alone in their experience . some story Individual can give

related to why the children feels and expressed a feeling which can make them brave, also, we can use different character. for Story telling is a good tool communication and is a

therapeutic way of diverting a childs attention from pain or anxiety. Through this children could share their stories, feelings, thoughts and emotions. Art therapy, which we let the children to draw anything they want and after that we will interpret they draw. Through arts or drawing figures and shapes patients especially the pediatric ones could express whats on their mind and how they feel. Music therapy helped children to divert feelings. Children may sing with music. It could relax them as well as distract them for the pain they are feeling. it regarding to what

method that has been developed to helped the sick children cope up with hospitalization. Which includes the use of music, toys, dolls, books and arts which could help children feel more comfortable during hospitalization. But specially, parents are the most important person included in the therapeutic play. They will be the one to help the children express their feelings and gather information for an accurate assessment.. There are different therapeutic play that could help lessen the fear and pain experienced by the pediatric patients.

Nowadays, music is being used for pain management. It is said that through music a persons feeling of pain could be alleviated. Simple humming, singing or playing the favorite songs of a child could be a great relief for them. Puppet is a means of providing a non-threatening for the child and nurse to communicate. Specially, for children who afraid to people are wearing white

This

different

kinds

of

therapeutic play are some of many play that could help us nurses a child. Story telling, art therapy, music therapy and puppet on their own different functions are really helpful in intervening a pediatric patients whoa re experiencing fear and anxiety when staying on a hospital. There are people who conducted a study about fear and pain of pediatric patients. One of this people is Ms. and others to make things easy to communicate with

uniforms. Puppet can be both entertaining and fun, also puppet therapy is used to assist children in communicating their thoughts and emotions. The puppet in hospital setting can be therapeutic for a child who is in pain. It can also help the nurse or other members of the healthcare team to explain a procedure to a child a lot easier. With the use of puppet, children could easily express how they feel as if its the puppet that talking. Take thus chance as questions parents could ask feeling of regarding

Justine Oriel with a study entitled, Relationship Between Demographic Profile and Level of Hospital-Related Fears Expressed by the Pediatric Patients in Laguna Provincial Hospital Sta. Cruz, Laguna. On her study it shows that among hospital related fears the most common was the hospital interventions w hich shows Significant. Generally, the result of the st udy was Moderately Afraid on the level of hospital-related fears among

boredom, anxiety, and pain. Also, this is a great opportunity for parents to explain why a child was hospitalized and what causes the child s pain.

pediatric patients. As my experience, children are the one who are difficult to rendered care because of being irritable and afraid of people who are not familiar to them and those who are wearing white uniforms. Really, we need to get first their trust to make it easy communicating with them while giving some interventions like getting their vital signs, giving medications and more. Through this therapeutic play or even other play that is related for childrens age, it will help us make our work lighter and finished it earlier. Through play we can ask them some questions that could help us for assessing the patient and lessen the fears and pain that they are experiencing while staying at the hospital.

Showing effort when providing care to a pediatric patient using play therapy is an effective nurse.
By: Paula Leen V. Reolada BSN IV-A

THANK YOU !!!