General Remarks

Minimizing children’s psychological stress in radiology procedures〜Collaboration with Medical Staff and Child Life Specialist〜

Megumi Aiyoshi
National Center for Child Health and Development Certified Child Life Specialist

Abstract

　　In pediatric radiology, minimizing children’s psychological stress is one of the important issues. Children may be stressed by radiology procedures even though they are not painful. At our Institute, a Child Life Specialist (CLS) has been working as a healthcare team member since 2007. The CLS informs children about procedures using developmentally appropriate explanation and considering their previous experience in hospitals. As a team, we provide a friendly environment for children during procedures. As a result, children are able to feel relaxed and participate in the procedures. Many children are able to take CT and MRI without drug sedation. In this paper, the role of the CLS in our radiology and the importance of collaboration between Medical Staff and CLS are discussed.

Keywords：Child Life Specialist, Collaboration, Psychological stress, Pediatric radiology