Teddy Bear Hospital – ALEM Luxembourg

Name of the activity: Teddy Bear Hospital

Country/NMO: ALEM Luxembourg

Program: Ethics and Human Rights in Health

Contact information: contact [email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: Continuous Activity

Category: Education

Focus area: Teddy Bear Hospital

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 4 (Quality Education)

General description:

Medical check-up is an essential part of childhood. Thus, lots of children associate negative emotions with it, which can affect the quality of the examination. The goal is to reduce childrens fear towards medical activity. Teddy bear doctors played by members of the NMO simulate a medical check-up on the teddy bear by going through the different processes. The emphasis lays on explaining to children the purpose and importance of the respective examination.

Problem statement:

Fear in children towards their doctor jeopardizes their health by making a medical examination difficult to perform. Cooperation during medical check-up is essential and should be encouraged by increased medical knowledge. Furthermore, negative emotion such as stress and panic are a burden for a child and a decrease of that negative emotion leads to psychological relief. 

Target groups:

• Children aged 4 to 10, as those are most susceptible to have developed a fear response to doctor visits, and as they already well remember bad doctor visits

Beneficiaries:

• General population
• Doctors
• Other health professionals
• Children
• Pediatricians and pediatric nurses
• Parents of participating children 

Objectives:

1. Immediate objective: Increase medical knowledge in children during the activity. This will be taught during different workshops where medical examinations and stitching are taught on teddys representing children. During those activities the children will get to know the tools used and can name and explain them.
2. Long term objective; Reduce negative emotions associated with medical examination during the activity and for future doctor appointments by showing no teddys are harmed during the examinations and giving them the possibility to ask all their questions in order to avoid new fears.

Indicators of Success:

Objective 1: 

1.       Outcome 1 : After the run through the activity, participating children were able to reformulate, in their own words, at least 1 of the examinations and treatments that have been « performed ».
2.       Outcome 2 : After the run through the activity, participating children can name, and point at, at least 2 of the used tools.

Objective 2:

1.       Outcome 1: 

After the activity, Parents tell us if their children seem less nervous during the last exams than during the first ones. At least 2/3 should tell us so.

1.       Outcome 2 : During the activity, the educating students ask after every exam how the child felt and if it was nervous or anxious to handle the tools. Positive answers should be achieved after the 2nd treatment.

Methodology:

OLM beforehand with participating NMO members, Discuss material; tent, teddy bears from our inventory, diagnostic tools and white coats from inventory.

Information sheet with tips and instructions are handed out; NPO will get the material.

Update information about Teddy Bear Hospital on ALEM website, advertising one month in advance to attract participants, via Mail and Social Media

Aim; Every child will go through 5 workshops; Clinical examination, X-Ray, Dressings, Surgery/Stitches, Healthy food/lifestyle.

Timeline; NPO brings all the material, arriving 8:30, members arriving 9:00, 9:30 beginning of activity and arriving of children, 1 member per child (as to have one on one supervision for children), every child gets about 15 minutes, member accompanies child through the workshops.

NPO stays in charge should any unforeseen problems occur. 1 team member will have the receptionist role. Event goes until 14:00, 30 minutes to disassemble site and put everything back in the boxes.

Plans for evaluation:

Pre-activity: Consider evaluations from previous teddy Hospitals, asking how we can improve negative critiques, team timeout asking if everyone knows their role, has their materials ready, feels comfortable

During the activity; 

-Quantitative; length of queue of children waiting to go through the workshops

-Qualitative; Children don’t quit and are willing to go through all the stations, this should be true for >90% of attendants. Are they recommending it to their friends? 

Post-activity evaluation:

-Quantitative: Holding record of the number of children having participated at the activity. In order to verify our indicators we have a form where we fill out how many children were able to explain and name tools as well as exams. Our goal shall be that 75% of the children were able to meet our targets.

-Qualitative: ask participating children and their parents for feedback.  

Post-activity meet-up to discuss difficulties and negative feedback

External collaborations:

– Different hospitals and practices in Luxembourg: They give us their expired medical material that we can use on the teddies.

– Partners that invite the Teddy Bear Hospital to their event: They provide benches and tables for us to be able to set up the different stations.

– NMO members: We organize a donation of teddy bears once a year, so that our NMO members are able to give their teddies that they no longer want a “”second life”” in our hospital.