Becoming An Effective CCLS While

Maintaining A Healthy Work Life Balance

Michelle Ashford, CCLS

Jessica Palumbo Dufur, CCLS

Christy Winfree, MS,LRT/CTRS,CCLS

Objectives

Participants Will Be Able To: • Identify “superhero identities” versus effective professional habits

• Identify approaches to advocacy and ways in which child life advocates

• Identify prioritization and its relationship to professional efficiency

• Articulate reasons quality of care can be shifted from quality to quantity

• Identify professional boundaries and clinical scope

• Embrace the ability to “say no”

• Master and maintain good self care

• Recognize qualities of a healthy mentor/mentee relationship

• Identify challenges related to work/family/life balance.

The Superhero Complex

Certified Child Life Specialist

Child Life Specialist

CCLS

Professional

Student

“Superhero Complex” Q & A

Many Child Life Specialists work for several years before they realize they are being seen as a superhero and find themselves starting to feel that they’re losing the joy and value behind their work.

Ethics & Effectiveness

Child Life Council Code of Ethical Responsibility

Principle 5:

Individuals shall promote the effectiveness of the child life profession by continuous efforts to improve professional services and practices

provided in the diverse settings in which they work and in the community at large.

Source: www.childlife.org

Advocacy

Definition of ADVOCATE

1 one that pleads the cause of another; specifically : one that pleads the cause of another before a judicial court

2 one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal

3 one that supports or promotes the interests of another

Source: Miriam Webster

Conflicting Priorities

• High Priorities• Administrative versus

patient care• Trauma versus

bereavement• Staffing Considerations

• Unrealistic expectations of role/goals

Strategies to Promote Effectiveness

Advocacy

Prioritizing Responsibilities

Mentorship Relationships

Goal Setting

Work Life Balance

Self Care

Advocating For Our Profession & Our Specific Role

We got here due to our passion to support others, but how do we advocate for ourselves?

Graceful advocacy:• Confident in our profession

• Find your “allies”

• Understand your organization’s leadership structure

Advocating for Patients & Families

• When to advocate?

• How to balance your advocacy duties in the workplace

• Resources

• Professional Boundaries• Not burn bridges

• Know when to push and when to yield

Professional Boundaries

Professional Boundaries = Respect

• Respect for our patients

• Respect for ourselves

• Respect for our profession

Professional boundaries ensure a

secure and therapeutic

environment where both the provider and patient are respected.

Source: ncctinc.com

Professional Boundaries Zones

Under-Involved

Over-Involved

Zone Of

Helpfulness

Source: www.ncsbn.org/professionalboundaries

Professional Boundaries

Respectful Boundaries Disrespectful Boundaries

providing therapeutic care providing care above therapeutic measure

checking on patient while hospitalized checking on discharged patient through social media

exploring patient’s understanding of a procedure

sharing your own personal experience with a procedure

active listening gossiping

Prioritization

Prioritization…Such a Delicate Balance

• Where do I even start? …You mean I can say no?

• What does “No” Mean?• Difficult to really grasp for some, inability to say “no”

• We must prioritize!

• We must ask for help!

• We must say “no” sometimes!

Why “Must We” Prioritize?

Less really can be more…why drive thru when you can dine in?

It is true! To protect not only our patients but our work life balance sometimes we must say no! We have to focus on having quality interactions with few versus many interactions that were “drive by” child life services.

Needs Assessment Tool- Inpatient

HEALTHCARE VARIABLES: Chronic illness Emergency admissions/ trauma Pending diagnosis New diagnosis Poor prognosis Pain Procedures Isolation/ restricted mobility NPO Intebated/ sedated/ vented Compliance issues

FAMILY VARIABLES: Family physically or emotionally unavailable Family having difficulty coping with admission/ diagnosis Cultural/ language barriers DFACS (protective services) involvement Family stress outside of hospital admission Bereavement Siblings: Siblings present for bereavement Sibling visit Sibling support

CHILD VARIABLES: Ineffective coping techniques Lack of understanding of admission/ diagnosis Changes in Behavior Difficulty expressing emotions/ change in affect Child is anxious Child not meeting developmental milestones (not including developmental delays) Regression from baseline Needs normalization

5 or more checked items = high needs

Shared from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Child Life Program

Needs Assessment Tool- Outpatient

HEALTHCARE VARIABLES: New diagnosis Poor Prognosis First Clinic Visit Pain (at present time) Procedures Repeat Visit (with ineffective coping techniques previously) NPO Compliance issues Nurse/ Doctor Referral Hospital Tours/ Pre-op

FAMILY VARIABLES: Family physically or emotionally unavailable Family having difficulty coping Cultural/ language barriers DFACS (protective services) involvement Family stress outside of hospital admission Family Presence Policy Parent Request Bereavement Sibling support

CHILD VARIABLES: Ineffective coping techniques Lack of understanding of admission/ diagnosis Changes in Behavior Difficulty expressing emotions/ change in affect Child is anxious Child not meeting developmental milestones (not including developmental delays) Regression from baseline Needs normalization Age

ED SPECIFIC: Acuity (blue, red, pink) Age (3-12) Admit

3 or more checked items = high needs

Shared from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Child Life Program

What’s your Dream?

• What’s my ideal Child Life dream job?

• What’s my ideal job setting?

• What keeps me going day in and day out?

• What made me passionate about this field?

Goal Setting

Savvy Goal Setting

• Does this goal fit my role?

When goal setting, think short and long term.

• What do I want to accomplish this year? In the next two years?

• How do I know if I met this goal?

But I Set It As My Goal…

Goal setting is GREAT, but we must be realistic!• How will I feel if I can’t meet this goal that I set for myself?

• Do I truly recognize this is a very “reaching” goal…

• What happens if I don’t reach it- performance evaluation?

Mentorship

Mentorship & You!

Mentors MenteesEffective Mentors Require An Ability

to:Mentees Require An Ability to:

Invest time and effort in mentee and the program

Take initiative

Be accessible and approachable Take responsibility

Manage the development of the relationship

Consider new ideas

Actively listen Set goals

Facilitate decision making Follow through

Utilize appropriate learning strategies Actively listen

Suggested Selection Criteria

Mentorship Guidelines

Quality Versus Quantity

• Colleague Comparison• Statistics• Understaffing• Superhero complex

• Unrealistic expectations of role/ goals

Self Care

Self-Care is not about self-indulgence, it’s

about self-preservation

-Audrey Lorde

How To Care For Yourself

Comfort Measures

• Schedule desk time to keep life under control.

• Wear happy socks.

• Learn to sit quietly and accomplish nothing.

• Make a list of survivors.

• Do one thing at a time whenever possible.

• Fix the small things that annoy you and laugh.

Compassion Fatigue

How to Spot Compassion Fatigue

Work Life Balance

Work Life Balance

• How do we manage self care at work when life changes

• Modify hours

• Job Share

• Balancing work with school

• Starting a family

How to avoid this…

• Ask yourself the following questions:

What is in my control?

Is this meaningful?

Is this important or not?

• Ask for help.

• Create a daily transition from work to home.

• Allow time to decompress.

Be aware of limitations.

Work Life Balance Benefits?

Benefits of Work Life Balance Initiatives:

• Ability to manage work and individual commitments

• Improved personal and family relationships

• Flexible working arrangements

• Increased focus, motivation and job satisfaction

• Increased job security

Round Table

Questions?

Sources

 

Barnsteiner, J. & Gillis-Donovan, J. (1990). Being Related and Separate: A Standard for Therapeutic Relationships. Maternal Child Nursing, 15, 223-228. Gottlieb, D., Hennessy, L., & Squires, V. (2004). Burnout: Knowing the Symptoms & Learning How to Care for Yourself, Too. Child Life Focus, 6(2), 1-4. Thayer, P. (2004). Navigating family relationships in child life. Child Life FOCUS, 24(3), 1-2.

(2013, June 6). Are you at risk for a professional boundary violation. Retrieved from Boundaries in Allied                Health website: http://www.ncctinc.com/webinars/Boundaries%20in%20Allied%20Health.pdf (2013, June 6). Retrieved from Miriam Webster website: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

advocate  (2013, July 6). A nurse’s guide to the importance of appropriate professional boundaries. website: https://www.ncsbn.org/Professional_Boundaries_2007_Web.pdf (2013, August 28). Retrieved from Code of Ethical Responsibility website: http://www.childlife.org/The%20Child%20Life%20Profession/CodeofEthicalResponsibility.cfm

Rupashree Baral, Shivganesh Bhargava, (2010). "Work family enrichment as a mediator between organizational interventions for work life balance and job outcomes",Journal of ‐ ‐Managerial Psychology, Vol. 25 Iss: 3, pp.274 – 30

Contact Information

Michelle Ashford: michelle.ashford@duke.edu

Jessica Palumbo Dufur: jessica.palumbodufur@choa.org

Christy Winfree: christy.winfree@carolinashealthcare.org