Hospital Playwork

[Ruthierhyme]

Hospital Playworkers or Play Specialists

This is a profession that uses play to help with the transition & settling in process from home to hospital ... as well as much more !!

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New hospital play themed book list is available here and resource ideas for professional
distraction therapy here.

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As a pre-school theme it's great for the children to discover that if they ever have to spend time in hospital there is a high likelihood of them having a supportive someone they can play with whilst there!

THE JOB
If you're thinking of hospital playwork as an alternative job to preschool or nursery these links will help source information..

This is an excellent page from Chelsea and Westminster's NHS foundation trust website:
Hospital Play Service - Information for Families

Playworkers.org - What is a Playworker and what does a playworker do.

Related job profiles for Hospital play work, specialism, children's nurse
All about Hospital Play work in the NHS - NHS Careers
and on stepintothe NHS

A PLAY PLAN
If you would like to use playworkers within a 'People Who Help Us' theme the following may help planning ..


ELGS 2008 ~ Early learning areas
Click Titles for summaries of ELGS ~ Ealry Learning Goals
and here to view the 2012 EYFS goals

PSED
Personal Social & Emotional Development
Persona dolls, doll or puppet resources are able to help recreate scenarios that invlove a playworker's role.

These fantastic case study examples have been taken from the now expired Pathwaystoaccess.org website - a past project of Tower Hamlets PCT.

Some examples of a hospital play specialist at work



Example 1

Maria is working with Tariq who is two years old and has been burnt on his shoulder by scalding water. He is in a lot of pain and pain relief is given to him as soon as he gets to the accident and emergency department. But he will need to wait for this to start working before the burn can be cleaned and dressed. Maria helps him to relax by playing and looking at picture books with him. Tariq’s parents are also very traumatised by the accident and Maria can tell they are feeling guilty about it. So she talks about the accident with them and gives them the support that they need. When the burn is being dressed, Maria will help to distract Tariq; she has brought along a jack-in-a-box and this helps to distract him from the painful procedure.

Example2

Debbie is 7 months old. She has been in hospital since she was born and the play specialist, Marcia, has spent a lot of time with her, helping her to develop as normally as possible. Today she is singing to Debbie, to helping her with speech development. Debbie’s parents cannot spend much time in the hospital with Debbie but when they do, Marcia helps them to feel close to their daughter again, trying to make it as fun and stimulating as possible.

Example 3

Daniel is a play specialist, working on one of the children’s surgical wards. This morning, he is helping to comfort Beth who is about to go down to the operating theatre. Beth hasn’t understood what is going to happen because her parents have not wanted to scare her. So Daniel has to do some careful negotiating with Beth’s parents, explaining that research shows that children recover better and suffer less distress if the procedures are explained to them in a way that they can understand. Beth’s parents finally agree with Daniel and then he shows Beth what would happen if her teddy bear was having an operation. Together, they bandage teddy’s head and Daniel goes down to the operating department with teddy and tells Beth he’ll take care of teddy whilst the operation is being carried out.

For a look inside our bodies these skeleton dough cutters are a nice way to examine the concept of out bone framework..

Allan Ahlberg's Funnybones book series

CLL
Communication, language and Literacy
Explaining what is happening to and around a child in hospital is something a skilled playworker will be practised in. General exploration through the daily interactions and learning opportunities that a child has in their homes and setting help to explore the concept of a hospital stay and the help & reassurance that everyone wants to provide

Hospital themed book list on silkysteps

As a very nice alternative, you can make your own hospital story book with this great downloadable colouring book featuring 'Stitches from University of Kentucky website
As a group activity look at sequencing and the events that could lead up to a hospital visit - how they get there & what happens when they do.

MD ~ PSRN
Math matical Development - Problem Solving, Reasoning & Numeracy
Guess the bndage length!

• Roll up a variety of lengths & widths of cepe bandages.
• Can the children guess which is the longest, the shortest ~ which is the biggest & which is the smallest.
• Line them up & roll them out over the floor
• Which one stretches out the furthest, can the children make it go even further by pulling it ( take care with this, pinging is fun but risky )

KNUW
Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Understanding how hospitals work and why we have them. The importance the people working within these buildings have and the roles involved.
Use small world figures , buildings & backdrops to create play situations that explore these concepts.

PD
Physical Development
Games that can be played on a ward - please note these haven't been personally

Pass the sock !!
Have the children sit in a circle, on chairs that they need to try & stay in
Throw a big fluffy sock to each child randomly & ask them to put it on .. a foot, their shoe, a hand or arm, then remove it and throw it back to you to pass to someone else.
Game objective: time filler, that each participant has a predetermined number of turns ..

Alternatively have a box of safe resources - variety of balls? to rummage through. The child receiving the fluffy sock can select and place a single item inside the sock and pass it back to you to pass to the next child, who then selects their object to put indside the sock.
Continue the game until a ball falls out during the pass. Count to see how many items managed to stay inside the sock - high score game.

CD
Creative Development

Role Play
Dress up boxes with doctor & nurse outfits in - doctor sets on amazon
Accessories - flipcharts, notepads & pens, stethoscopes .. teddy bear patients, plasters & bandages!

Music
Consideration of other patients is necessary if using instruments & some technical equipment may need permission before introduction.

Songs and rhymes on a hospital theme can be sung together.

Sung to Traditional 'Five Currant buns tune

5 empty plaster casts, lying in the hall
All looking sad as they'd like to kick a ball.
Along came xx with an idea spark
They slid on a cast and went off to find a park ...

Copyright©RuthGrimes2007

Plaster cast craft game template or happy & sad plaster cast template


To use - print, cut & fold in half.
Glue the outer edges together, leaving the top open and forming an envelope type design.
Use alongside the rhyme to hand out to the participants as they 'come along'. Slip a finger inside the paper 'puppet and kick a scrunched up paper ball around - or side push it
Alternatively use to hold messages, play guessing games, hide & find.

Arts & Crafts
Look at some of the craft, creative mediums and ideas that playworkers use in medical environments - painting, colouring, gluing, collage work, stitch & embroidery, threading, felting, mosiac work. Google image searches for creative hospital play - hospital children's art

And maybe research 'arts for health' depatments and coordinator information.
Professional art in hospital BBC.co.uk photo gallery of Sheffield and South Yorkshire's childrens hospital


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ADDITIONAL LINKS

Our Hospital radio play suggestion could be incorporated to extend this theme


Have fun

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[sarahnev707]

Thank you Ruth! We'll have a few days' fun with that next week!
Sarah x

[Ruthierhyme]

Excellent let me know how the socks go lol

[Ruthierhyme]

Updated many of the original links.

[bookpixie]

Originally Posted by Ruthierhyme

Updated many of the original links.

hi Ruthirhyme
I just stumbled across this post and was wonderig where I can find the updated links?,forgive me if i'm being dense but the links above were automaticaly sending me to something called quickquest!

[Ruthierhyme]

I am so sorry, as a warning to others, please please don't click links on a website that once clicked through to, doesn't look as you'd expect.

I'm not sure which link was causing the issue but I've updated all and reinstated the plaster cast images

Let us know if you ever come across any games or printable ideas that impress, or if the children initiate play ideas that others would find useful.

Best wishes

Ruth xx