Play for hospitalized children: A qualitative enquiry of behaviour and motivation of nurses in a secondary level healthcare setting in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommends that healthcare workers, specifically doctors and nurses, utilize play within treatment and care to promote recovery and overall well-being of hospitalized children. This recommendation has extended the roles of nurses in pediatric settings to include play in their routine care for children hospitalized for various childhood illnesses. Nurses need to draw on their skills to use play as an essential tool to aid communication, assessment, diagnosis, and care of the hospitalized child. This study explored the behaviour and motivation of Ghanaian nurses towards the utilization of play for hospitalized children. METHODS: Exploratory qualitative design was utilized and 12 registered nurses from the pediatric unit of a secondary-level health institution were selected purposively and interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Thematic analysis was done with two themes namely behaviour towards play and motivation to use play emerging with their corresponding sub-themes. FINDING: In the study setting, play has not been formalized or fully integrated into the routine care of the sick child. Nurses have a positive attitude and believe in the positive impact of play on the sick child. Participants utilize play as and when there is a need, and they derive satisfaction and fulfilment anytime they engage in play activities with their patients. Lack of administrative support and resources for play interventions affect their motivation to use play for the children. CONCLUSION: Formalization of play and integration of play into the routine care of the sick child is needed to motivate nurses to engage hospitalized children in play activities to help them derive the full benefits that play offers to the sick and hospitalized child. IMPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE: The positive attitudes and behaviour towards play as demonstrated in this study calls for Ghanaian nurses in general to be empowered through the formalization and integration of play into routine nursing care.

[Carl Arthur Kollmann: urologist, venereologist and puppeteer from Leipzig]. / Carl Arthur Kollmann: Urologe, Venerologe und Puppenspieler in Leipzig.

While Felix Martin Oberländer (born in Dresden, Saxony, Germany) is remembered in German-speaking urology and abroad, and his name has been honored since 1997 with an award named after him, the memory and knowledge of Arthur Kollmann of Leipzig (Saxony, Germany) seems to have been nearly forgotten within urology in Germany and abroad. However, the memory of him in other fields of science in which he was involved, e.g., puppets and puppetry-based research, remain vivid up to now.

Looking deeper into the toy box: Understanding caregiver toy selection decisions.

Children's caregivers are their first play partners, and toys influence the quality of these caregiver-child interactions-with research suggesting that electronic toys are not as supportive of these interactions as traditional toys. In this study, we investigate (1) toy use amongst caregivers and infants, with an eye towards investigating the prevalence of traditional vs. electronic toys, (2) caregivers' preferences when selecting electronic or traditional toys for their children and (3) whether caregivers' choices are impacted by the claims made by toy manufacturers. Sixty-three primary caregivers participated in a survey asking about their toy selection decisions. Results demonstrate the prevalence of electronic toys (even for the youngest infants) as well as caregivers' preferences and the potential of toy descriptions to impact caregivers' toy purchasing decisions. Despite scientific evidence that there may be a developmental cost to electronic toys relative to traditional toys, after highlighting the toys' developmental benefits, caregivers became more likely to select electronic toys for their infant.

[Use of toys in hospitals: what are Brazilian nurses studying?]. / Uso do brinquedo no hospital: o que os enfermeiros brasileiros estão estudando?

Care for the emotional needs of hospitalized children has had the attention of nursing professionals in Brazil, although not as a general rule. The chance to play is known as a relief from suffering, especially in childhood, which justifies the importance of this theme. This study had the objective of analyzing Brazilian nurses' academic production on the use of toys during the attention to children in hospitals in strictu sensu Graduate programs. Data were taken from Portal CAPES, CEPEn, IBICT and papers' references. Of the 15 theses/dissertations found in the literature only 14 are available; they were analyzed and comprise the corpus of this study. It was found that toys have been used mostly in pre and postsurgery, by Nursing professors, with preschool and school age children, parents and nurses. All of the works reinforce the positive results of toys' use. We recommend to pediatric nurses the use of toys in all institutions where children need care.

Getting from how to why: a pause for reflection on professional life.

In the course of institutional life, many may lose their sense of purpose. The daily demands of both medicine and teaching--small defeats, time pressures, bureaucratic obstacles, and chronic overload--can erode the sense of purpose and clarity of desire that infuse work with spirit and energy. One antidote for this drained state is time for renewal--not long periods of rest and relaxation, valuable though these may be, but rather a "particular kind of stopping . . . the pause for a poem." The author describes how stopping in the middle of the day to read and reflect on a poem can defamiliarize the familiar, giving the reader a fresh outlook on the ordinary day. She describes how poetry also can awaken a sense of play, a childlike openness and sense of curiosity, and a renewed awareness of feelings. To honor feeling can provide a needed corrective to the conventionalized response that has become thoughtless or bloodless or tired. The kind of play poems engage readers in can also provide a connection to the sacred, restoring the wider vision and deeper purposes without which the practice of medicine might diminish to something less lifegiving for both patient and physician than it ought to be. In her discussion of the restorative power of poetry, the author quotes several poems in full and invites readers to consider the fresh perspectives they offer.

Nurses, children, and play.

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.

Estratégias lúdicas utilizadas em enfermagem - Uma revisão integrativa / Games-playing strategies used in nursing - An integrative review

Resumo Objetivo: identificar e analisar o conhecimento produzido na literatura científica sobre a utilização de jogos na formação em enfermagem. Síntese do conteúdo: trata-se de uma revisão integrativa de literatura, realizada no motor de busca Scopus®, por meio de descritores específicos redigidos em português e inglês, e publicados entre 2010 e 2016. Dos 58 artigos encontrados, foram integrados 10, o que permitiu identificar divergências e convergências, possibilitando o agrupamento por quatro áreas temáticas: tipologia de jogo, áreas temáticas do jogo, âmbito de aplicação dos jogos e metodologias de avaliação da estratégia. Conclusões: os resultados evidenciam a maior utilização dessa estratégia na formação para enfermeiros, ao nível da graduação. São encontradas algumas lacunas no âmbito dos mecanismos de avaliação dessas estratégias. Sugere-se a continuidade de estudos sobre o impacto dos jogos no cuidado.

Resumen Objetivo: identificar y analizar el conocimiento producido en la literatura científica sobre la utilización de juegos en la formación en enfermería. Síntesis de contenido: se trata de una revisión de la literatura realizada en el motor de búsqueda Scopus®, usando descriptores específicos en portugués e inglés, y publicados entre el 2010 y el 2016. De los 58 artículos, se seleccionaron 10, lo que ha permitido identificar diferencias y convergencias, posibilitando la agrupación por cuatro áreas temáticas: tipología de juego, áreas temáticas del juego, ámbito de aplicación de los juegos y metodologías de evaluación de la estrategia. Conclusiones: los resultados evidencian la mayor utilización de esta estrategia en la formación para enfermeros, a nivel de pregrado. Se encuentran algunos vacíos en el marco de los mecanismos de evaluación de estas estrategias. Se sugiere la continuidad de estudios sobre el impacto de los juegos en el cuidado.

Abstract Objective: to select and analyse the knowledge of the use of games in training nurses found in the scientific literature. Synthesis of content: this is an integrative review of the studies of the subject published between 2010 and 2016, found through the SCOPUS® search engine with the use of specific descriptors in Portuguese and English. Of the 58 articles which were found, 10 were selected, which allowed for the determination of commons themes and differences: they were then grouped into four broad areas, specifically: games typology, the thematic focus of the game, the scope of game and the methodologies for evaluating the strategy. Conclusions: the results show that this strategy for training nurses is mostly used at the undergraduate level. There are some shortcomings in the scope of the mechanisms used for the evaluation of these strategies. It is suggested that studies of the impact of games-playing on health care should be extended.

O brincar e a criança hospitalizada: visão de enfermeiras / The playing and the hospitalized child: perspective from the nurses

Objetivo: investigar como as enfermeiras vivenciam a inserção do brincar nas atividades cotidianas de cuidado emuma unidade de internação pediátrica. Metodologia: estudo exploratório com abordagem qualitativa, realizado comnove enfermeiras de um hospital público pediátrico do interior cearense, Brasil. Os dados, coletados por meio deentrevista semiestruturada, foram organizados mediante a análise de conteúdo temática. Resultados: emergiram trêscategorias simbólicas: dificuldades para a inserção do brincar no cuidado à criança hospitalizada; facilidades paraa inserção do brincar no cuidado à criança hospitalizada; e significados do brincar para as enfermeiras. O principalmotivo relatado pelas enfermeiras, para que o brincar não fosse incluído rotineiramente nas suas ações de cuidadocom a criança, referiu-se à rotina de trabalho. Conclusão: as enfermeiras referiram obstáculos e facilidades relativosà inclusão do brincar nas atividades cotidianas de cuidado e o reconheceram como importante estratégia para cuidardas crianças hospitalizadas.

Objective: to investigate how nurses experience the insertion of the playing in daily care activities in a pediatrichospitalization unit. Methodology: exploratory study with a qualitative approach, conducted with nine nurses froma pediatric public hospital in the interior of Ceará, Brazil. The data, collected through a semi-structured interview,were organized through the analysis of thematic content. Results: three symbolic categories emerged: Difficultiesfor the insertion of playing in the care of hospitalized children; Facilities for the insertion of play in the care of thehospitalized child and; The meanings of the play to the nurses. The main reason reported by nurses that playinggames was not routinely included in their child-care actions refers to their work routine. Conclusion: nurses referto obstacles and facilities related to the inclusion of play in daily care activities and recognize it as an importantstrategy to care for hospitalized children.

Objetivo: investigar cómo las enfermeras experimentan la inserción del jugar en las actividades cotidianas deatención en una unidad de hospitalización pediátrica. Metodología: estudio exploratorio con abordaje cualitativo,realizado con nueve enfermeras de un hospital pediátrico del interior de Ceará, Brasil. Los datos, recogidos mediante entrevista semiestructurada, fueron organizados mediante el análisis de contenido temático. Resultados: surgierontres categorías simbólicas: Dificultad para insertar el juego en el cuidado de los niños hospitalizados; Facilidadespara la inserción del juego en el cuidado de los niños en el hospital; y El significado del jugar para las enfermeras.La razón primaria registrada por las enfermeras para que el juego no sea incluido rutinariamente en sus accionesde cuidado con el niño se refiere a la rutina de trabajo. Conclusión: las enfermeras se refieren a los obstáculos yfacilidades relativos a la inclusión del jugar en las actividades cotidianas de cuidado y la reconocen como unaestrategia importante para el cuidado de los niños hospitalizados.