Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2022 - 9

FROM EXPERIENCE / ROUNDS
a preferred reward once the child was
finished. With this information available
to providers prior to a procedure,
parents say they felt heard and included
in their child's care. According to one
parent, " There was deep compassion, an
eagerness to listen and a great desire to
do everything in their control to make
my son's day easy. "
disorders, such as autism, and known to
have had a negative experience or failed
procedure in the past.
To pilot the program, a sample of 10
children, parents and caregivers, were
interviewed during an admission phone
call about what might help the child feel
relaxed during the appointment. Using
a script, providers reviewed a set of 10
prompts with parents, including:
◼ What are the keys to understanding
how your child communicates?
◼ What calms your child?
◼ What might make your child more
comfortable in the environment?
◼ What helps you, the caregiver?
During these conversations, parents
and caregivers shared the intricacies of
how their child interacts with providers.
The information was used to adapt
the clinical space with accommodations
such as dimmed lights, a favorite toy or
video, a limited number of providers
entering the space, visual supports, and
SPREADING THE KNOWLEDGE
In 2019, 37 staff members across 16 departments
attended a two-and-a-half-day
training to be certified as Key Trainers.
With this education, these staff members
are leaders in the implementation of Keys
to Me across clinical settings. With a
growing need for access to the education,
the Keys to Me team rolled out a 10-part
micro-learning series that has been completed
by an additional 370 colleagues in
the adult and pediatric settings at five of
the Mercy system hospitals.
During training, the Keys to Me team
realized a need to have this information
integrated into the child's health record.
The original parent interview form was
embedded into the electronic health
record to make it easily accessible and
easily updated as behaviors and needs
change. Each participant is identified
with a green banner at the top of their
chart with a live link to the information.
SENSORY FRIENDLY VACCINE CLINIC
Most recently, Keys to Me expanded its
reach to increase access to families seeking
COVID-19 vaccines for their children.
While the rate of COVID-19 infection in
children remains comparatively low to
that of adults, children and youth with
special health care needs may be at
increased risk for more severe illness and
complications after infection, according
to AAP's healthychildren.org. This
includes children with chronic physical,
developmental, behavior or emotional
conditions, disabilities and those with
medically complex conditions.
In partnership with Mercy's COVID
Vaccine Clinic, Mercy Kids offered a
sensory friendly vaccine clinic. Patients
and families could tour the vaccination
space prior to the event, and providers
were equipped with information about
accommodations for each participant.
The environment was controlled and
closed to the public. Lights were dimmed,
private rooms were provided, and providers
were supported with hands-on
training to meet individual developmental
needs. Several participants who
had previously failed attempts to get
the vaccine were administered their
shots with the help of these individual
accommodations.
A NEW BEST PRACTICE
A growing number of programs in
pediatric health care are focused on
promoting successful outcomes of
medical procedures for children with
developmental and behavioral needs by
implementing environmental modifications.
These programs allow for a greater
value of measurement and ultimately, a
new standard of care. Keys to Me continues
to individualize health care to
support children. In the four years since
implementation, more than 800 patients
have enrolled with a goal to expand
programming to additional children's
hospitals and health care programs.
Jenny Schwartz, RN, M.S.N., NE-BC, is
executive director of Mercy Children's
Hospital; Ann C. Simon, M.S.W., LCSW,
is program supervisor of Mercy Kids
Autism Center; and Kelly Wooldridge,
MPT, is director of the Mercy Kids
Therapy and Autism Center in St. Louis.
Tell your hospital's story. Email
magazine@childrenshospitals.org.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Spring 2022
9
http://www.healthychildren.org
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2022

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