CCLS are often faced with ethical dilemmas in their daily practice.  These dilemmas may arise from many different layers including the patients, families, health care team, and/or culture and society.  Most who serve in health care subscribe to the Best Interest Standard, which is the "ethical requirement that people who care for others will do so in good faith, placing their assessment of that person's best interests above their own".  As CCLS, navigation of Parental Authority, Pediatric Assent, Justice, and Respect for Person are common ethical principles that often arise with each intervention.  However, veracity, or the obligation to be truthful may vary depending on culture.  Often Eastern and Western Medicine and Culture have differing views on including children and adolescents in their health care decisions. As CCLS, who are often trained in Western Medicine, we must balance obligations to respect individual patient autonomy, professional truth telling, and tolerances of multicultural beliefs and values.  This presentation will review ethical principles such as Beneficence, Nonmaleficence, Fidelity, and Cultural Relativism and how they relate to navigating ethical dilemmas, in particular with different cultural views or beliefs.  For example, a CCLS may feel obligated to be honest if a patient asks, "What is happening to them?" or a CCLS may feel an obligation in Respect for a patient's autonomy to be included in decision making, memory making, or legacy building activities related to their medical diagnosis or prognosis.  This presentation will provide participants an opportunity to utilize an Ethical Framework to navigate these ethical dilemmas and explore is Veracity, Always Best when working with different cultures.

Suggested Domain: Ethics

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Utilize ethical tenets to assess and implement patient interventions 

2. Review application of child life code of ethics, with emphasis on cultural implications 

Across the United States there has been a progressive and steady decrease in children admitted to the original hospital but rather transferred to another facility. The notification of a transfer can be a significant stressful time for pediatric patients and their families. The goal of an initial assessment by a child life specialist is to determine a child’s risk for negative psychological outcomes due to transfer and hospitalization and to plan appropriate interventions. This presentation will inform the child life community about a research study completed to show the benefits of pediatric patients receiving a toolkit intervention aimed at decreasing levels of stress and anxiety when transferring to a higher level care facility.  The development of a new intervention will help alleviate such stress and can be beneficial for all parties involved.  Certified Child Life Specialists collaborated with the interdisciplinary team to reduce the stress and anxiety of being in the Emergency Department by psychologically preparing and supporting patients for procedures, transfer, and admission to another hospital.  Although child life specialists play an important role in children’s adaptation to hospitalization, evidence-based practice models support inter-professional collaboration as a means of strategically addressing complex issues associated with how children and their parents cope with medical challenges.

Suggested Domain: Assessment/Intervention

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Initial assessment of a child to determine the efficacy of psychosocial interventions provided by a Child Life Specialist in preparing children for transport to another medical facility.

2. Show the benefits of preparation for a pediatric patient being transferred to a higher level of care facility.

3. Alleviate the stress and anxiety of a pediatric patient and their family through an interdisciplinary team approach when the unexpected is present during a pediatric medical emergency.  

The support that students gain as they enter the field of child life is wide and quite variable. Samantha and I will explore the topic of how this impacts the scope of psychological safety through the breakdown of the safety core components, survey response and literature support. Through the exploration we will then note some of the pieces we have fostered at our site to aid in the support and supplementation the creation of safety for our trainees.

We will also look at where our department still has room to grow. While the focus of this work would be mainly on students, we will also look towards the new hire/first career support to foster an entry point that feels supportive and safe. 

Suggested Domain: Ethics

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Define Psychological Safety

2. Define Psychological Safety Impacts noted via literature support, survey and CHOP student feedback

2. Understand how sites can aid in supporting students during the process of application, interview, and practicum/internship 

4. Understand the job ready entry impact of moving into clinical supervision space, mentorship programs, and tailored onboarding, and early support when moving to a new location. 

This presentation will explore how student programming was expanded to incorporate facility dog work in a new model for a practicum experience. An in-depth look at this institution's student programming model will be shared. The student’s unique perspective will be shared through a first-person student experience and direct connection to growth into internship readiness. This first-person experience will also be shared by facility dog handler and clinical trainer to reflect upon how the practicum student partnership offered an opportunity to explore clinical engagement. This presentation will also showcase future plans for program expansion and implementation in other institutions

Suggested Domain: Professional Responsibility

1.5 PDUs

Learning Objectives:

1. Define Facility Dog Program and Practicum Programing through the lens of ACLP and the Service Dog Organization.

2. Learn about the benefits and structure of a Facility Dog Program and Child Life Student Program partnership.

3. Discuss future and creative goals on how to implement programming into other hospital/teaching environments.

This webinar will focus on providing racially conscious pediatric psychosocial care to the patients and families we serve. Areas that will be discussed include reflecting on the theoretical frameworks we use, understanding the importance of diversifying the field of child life, considering the influence of racism on health outcomes, and recommendations for our everyday practice in order to deliver high quality care for our diverse patients and families.

Suggested Domain: DEI (domain of your choosing)

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. To reflect on whether our practice is inclusive of patients and families from minority backgrounds

2. Enforce the importance of practicing cultural humility

3. Feel empowered to create a safe and inclusive environment for our diverse patients and families

Providing students with excellent supervision is critical to advancing the child life profession. Whether you are preparing to supervise your first intern, or you have been supervising for years, building and advancing your supervision skill set is an imperative part of your professional journey. This course is composed of 6 modules over 6 weeks. The modules are a mix of independent and live learning components. Those who successfully complete the course will earn 7.5 PDUs (Suggested Domain: Professional Responsibility) and a digital badge in recognition of Supervisory Excellence. Once purchased, no refunds will be provided. Please verify your availability for the 3 live section meetings (listed below) before purchasing the course.

Cohort 3: 

• September 1st to October 13th, 2023
• Registration is limited to 30 people

Live section meetings will occur on the following dates/times (Please note these times are in Eastern Standard Time):

1.  Thursday September 7th, 2023 from 6:00-7:30pm EST

2.  Thursday September 28th, 2023 from 6:00-8:00pm EST

3. Thursday October 12th, 2023 from 6:00-7:30pm EST

*You are required to attend all three live section meetings for successful completion of the course*

Course Objectives and Goals:

• Build a community of clinical supervisors to enhance the confidence of emerging professionals in the child life field.
• Create a standard curriculum and resources for clinical supervisors to develop effective child life internships.
• Create an accessible platform for emerging clinical supervisors in the child life field through an interactive synchronous learning environment.

I. Module 1: Course Overview - Getting Started in Internship Supervision (Live Component on September 7th from 6-7:30pm EST)

II. Module 2: Assessing Self and Professional Perspectives of Students and Learning (Independent Learning)

III. Module 3: Learning Styles (Independent Learning)

IV. Module 4: Communication and Supervision (Live Component on September 28th from 6-8:00pm EST)

V. Module 5: Tasks of an Internship (Independent Learning)

VI. Module 6: Ethical Scenarios and Sustaining Connectivity (Live Component on October 12th from 6-7:30pm EST)

Our presentation will give an overview of the unique challenges and scenarios a CCLS may encounter as a one person program in a hospital or community setting. Given the current staffing shortages within the field, we recognize that not only are experienced professionals going into one person program positions, but these hard-to-fill positions are being taken by new graduates and emerging professionals; some of whom may have only had internship experience in large child life teams. While there are many similarities between hospital systems and how they function, there are also important differences that we feel professionals should be prepared to face when entering a one-person program. These things include, but are not limited to, prioritization challenges when covering multiple units, working with managers of other professional disciplines, advocating in an organization that is not familiar with atraumatic care principles. Because of some of these differences, a child life specialist in a one-person program may find themselves with far more administrative responsibilities than they may have initially realized. These responsibilities can include  grant writing, donation procurement and organization, presentations and orientations for staff, volunteer training and direct supervision, intern selection, program development, liaising directly with communications/public relations teams, and so much more. Rather than being a "how-to guide" to starting a one-person program, we would like our audience to feel that they have a greater sense of the realities of working as a one-person program. We are hoping that our presentation will spark a robust discussion and audience engagement whereby we can share case examples, scenarios, resources and more. We hope that by sharing our experiences in one person programs, we can provide insight to the demands, share the unique challenges and offer tips for success to those in or interested in taking on the role of a one-person program. 

Suggested Domain: Professional Responsibility

1.5 PDUs

Learning Objectives:

1. To understand expectations and role requirements of a 1 person program CCLS. 

2. Understanding prioritization challenges as a 1 person program CCLS. 

3. Advocacy as a CCLS when there is no CCLS representation at a leadership level.

A child life focused elective was created to increase inter-professional collaboration and enhance knowledge of child development for medical students.  This elective encourages a more global awareness of how to treat the whole child, while also optimizing the utilization of resources within the healthcare setting.  This webinar will provide insight into how one institution identified a need, and the steps taken to implement a successful 2-week immersive elective for 4th year medical students.  Participants will learn about curriculum development, implementation, evaluation, and continued sustainment. Throughout this discussion, insight into the value this elective brings to all involved will be shared.  Join us and leave feeling empowered to partner with your colleagues to create your own program.

Suggested Domain: Professional Responsibility

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the design and completion of a needs assessment aimed at guiding development of a Child Life Elective.

2. Identify key collaborators for successful development of a Child Life Elective.

3. Describe steps used for curriculum development.

4. Explain methods to evaluate success and maintain active enrollment in an elective of this nature. 

Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at increased risk of neurodevelopment impairments.  Potential risk factors include being left alone for long periods of time with minimal stimulation, interaction, or opportunity to engage in developmentally appropriate play.  An interdisciplinary team was formed and posited that volunteers may be an underutilized resource to help providers and families deliver neurodevelopmental care to pediatric cardiology patients.  That team developed a volunteer program specific to this high-risk chronic population, with the goal of volunteers providing targeted developmental care during patient interactions.  This webinar will outline the process of creating this program, the impact of interdisciplinary teamwork and discuss the benefits of training hospital volunteers to complete specific developmental support within their volunteer scope for any chronic patient population.

Suggested Domain: Assessment

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will identify the need for a dedicated volunteer program within a chronic inpatient setting, and why it differs from a generalized volunteer program

2. Participants will review data collected demonstrating the heightened impact of this program on patients, families, team members and volunteers

3. Participants will gather resources and tips on developing a dedicated volunteer program for any chronic or at-risk inpatient population

4. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to an interdisciplinary group of presenters, gaining further insight or ideas for developing a dedicated volunteer program

The location and extent of burn injuries often hinder the medical team’s ability to gain a comprehensive understanding of the child’s developmental and ability level. This can hinder how each multidisciplinary team member is approaching the patient’s care and offering appropriate interventions and activities. Under the leadership of the child life specialist, a burn center multidisciplinary team formally incorporated the Ages and Stages Developmental Screening tool into their standardized practice. The purpose was to gain an understanding of the patient's pre-injury developmental stage and abilities. Assessment results were incorporated into a treatment plan by the PT, OT and child life specialist. This presentation will discuss planning, implementation, results, and lessons learned. The presenters look forward to sharing the implementation of the screening tool for this specific population and discussing implications for other populations who are impacted by injury or necessary medical equipment

Suggested Domain: Assessment

1.0 PDU

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the Ages and Stages Developmental screening tool. 

2. Identify opportunities for utilization at their facility and stakeholders within the multidisciplinary team. 

3. Anticipate challenges with incorporating a screening tool. 

4. Learn how to incorporate results into Epic charting.