Special Session: To the Hospital and Beyond: A Special Program on Child Life and Dialysis
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.
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Program Directors: Robin Davis, CCLS and Amanda Porter, MS, CCLS
Robin Davis, CCLS -Child Life Specialist at Texas Children’s
Hospital Based School in the Pediatric Setting
Gayle Domsch, Ed.D -Hospital Based School Teacher at Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Patricia Oak -Texas Children’s Renal School Liaison
Behavior Plans with Chronic Dialysis Patients
Amanda Porter, MS, CCLS -Dialysis and Kidney Transplant at Children’s Mercy
Supporting the Transplant Population
Amanda Porter, MS, CCLS -Dialysis and Kidney Transplant at Children’s Mercy
Julie Guillen, CCLS -Renal Transplant Child Life Specialist at Texas Children’s
Fluid Restrictions
Marisa Calderon, RD -Registered Dietitian at Texas Children’s
Medication Adherence
Valerie Smith, PharmD -Pharmacist at Children’s Mercy Kansas City
