Nurses, children, and play.

Full Abstract

A child's play is recognized as a useful tool for nurses in the diagnostic process of making judgments about a hospitalized child's compliance with medical procedures, adjustment to the hospital environment, degree of pain, and level of psychosocial functioning. However, the knowledge base that is required to effectively help a pediatric patient "play" in a therapeutic mode appears to be extremely limited for most nurses and is rarely addressed in a substantive manner in nursing education. Educational programs must be willing to incorporate a "developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive, and family-centered approach" using clinical experiences and professional role models in their nursing curricula. The end product should be nurses who are competent in a much wider range of medical technological and psychosocial issues than has been necessary in the past. In short, nurses must learn to play.

Author information

Author/s: Jessee, P O (PO);

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Issues in comprehensive pediatric nursing (Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs), published in UNITED STATES. (Language: eng)

Reference: -1992 Oct-Dec; vol 15 (issue 4) : pp 261-9

Dates: Created 1993/12/23; Completed 1993/12/23; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 1340875, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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