ARK for Pediatric Care Providers

Lesson 1: Understanding the Importance of Unconditional Love and Care at the Bedside

A Harvard study lists “the availability of at least one stable, caring, and supportive relationship between a child and an adult caregiver” as a key element…

Lesson 2: Providing Unconditional Love and Care

Unconditional love involves making a conscious decision to value someone for who she is rather than for what she does. In order to feel esteemed as a human being, every person has a desperate…

Lesson 3: Practicing Active Listening

Active listening is one of the most valuable implements in a pediatric caregiver’s toolbox. Active listening helps eliminate judgment and criticism from the staff/patient relationship, clears the path for a calm explanation of the…

Lesson 4: Eschewing Labeling

Fran Greeson, former Director of Pediatric Oncology Social Work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, points to the problem of labels leading to compromised care, “Labeling can become a real issue when dealing with a dysfunctional…

Lesson 5: Establishing Professional Boundaries

The relationship between care provider and child is an important factor in clinical care. The treatment interventions prescribed for a child carry with them the potential for intense emotional involvement. Our concern here…

Lesson 6: Avoiding Cultural Bias

Cultural bias is a component of every healing relationship. As Mark Twain once said, “We’re all a product of our rearin’!” There are certain parts of our self over which we had no choice and that are a basic ingredient of who we…

Lesson 7: Being Present at the Bedside When There’s Bad News

When a patient enters the hospital, the goal of the attending care providers is to help facilitate that patient’s wellbeing. Often, however, despite the best efforts of the…