To The Hospital and Beyond: A Special Program on Child Life and Dialysis

Program Description:  Child Life Specialists (CLS) are members of the health care team who provide support for patients and their family members throughout their hospital journey. Their services and support vary depending on the needs of each individual patient and family that they encounter. CLS have special expertise to educate and work alongside the interdisciplinary team.  Some of their activities include utilizing therapeutic play to allow the child to understand their time in the hospital system,  preparing patients for what they are going to experience in the hospital to promote positive coping, assisting with pain management techniques and how to empower a patient to do difficult tasks in addition to supporting the family throughout this journey.  All these interactions are guided by the CLS’s knowledge of child development.

The goal of this special program is to provide a forum to share information of the roles of Child Life Specialists (CLS) in Nephrology with fellow Nephrology Practitioners and foster an exchange of ideas on how this group of professionals can best support and serve the unique patient population they care for.

Topics and Presentations:

9:45    Welcome and Introductions – Robin Davis, CCLS and Amanda Porter, MS, CCLS

10:00    Quality of Life/Psychosocial Challenges Affecting Chronic Dialysis Patients – Cortney Zimmerman, PhD

11:00    Supporting Patients During Common Dialysis Procedures – Amanda Porter, MS, CCLS

12:00    Break

1:00     Educating and Encouraging Patients to Become More Engaged in Maintaining Nutritional Needs – Jessica Tower, MS, RD, LD and Rachel Finn, CMH Chef

2:00     Transition from CKD to Dialysis to Transplant: Case-based Presentations – Amanda Porter, MS, CCLS and Robin Davis, MS, CCLS

3:00     Dialysis: The Patient Perspective and Experience – Robin Davis, CCLS

4:00     Interactive Discussion

5:00     Adjourn