In a step forward for paediatric care, Children\u2019s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is making the Comfort Promise a hospital-wide standard, ensuring every child receives compassionate, evidence-based pain management during needle procedures.<\/p>\n
The Comfort Promise began as a pilot project in select departments in 2020, made possible in part by the generosity of Children\u2019s Health Foundation donors. As of July 1, it has expanded to\u00a0almost every\u00a0area of the hospital.<\/p>\n
This marks the first time all patients at Children\u2019s Hospital will be offered Comfort Promise measures, regardless of the reason for their visit.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Comfort Promise\u00a0is Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s commitment to ensuring every child receives the highest level of comfort and pain management during their care.<\/p>\n
Adapted from Children\u2019s Minnesota, it uses proven, age-appropriate strategies like numbing cream, comfort positioning,\u00a0distraction\u00a0and sucrose\/breastfeeding to help patients feel more at ease. These methods are offered before or during any needle procedure, including blood draws, IV\u00a0insertions\u00a0and vaccinations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Comfort Promise is a\u00a0game-changer\u00a0for young patients who fear needles and the hospital more generally,\u201d says Dr. Naveen Poonai, physician at Children\u2019s Hospital. \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0no longer just treating an illness;\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0treating the\u00a0patient\u00a0experience. And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0important, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Research has shown that more than 75 per cent of children experience pain during hospital stays, with needle procedures ranked as the most painful part of their care \u2013 second only to their medical\u00a0condition itself.<\/p>\n
Yet paediatric pain has long been underrecognized and undertreated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that painful experiences can have lasting effects,\u201d says Dr. Poonai. \u201cWhen children feel safe and pain-free while receiving care, this builds trust in their provider and makes the patient less likely to dread or avoid medical visits in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
For patients like Stella and her mom, Sari, this experience was a game changer for setting\u00a0the\u00a0example for future hospital experiences. Sari explained, \u201cThe team works really well together to make sure your child feels like the centre of the universe, safe, comfortable and as pain free as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children who have painful care experiences also tend to recover more slowly, have increased sensitivity to pain during future procedures and are more likely to become vaccine hesitant.<\/p>\n
With the\u00a0Paediatric Vaccination Clinic, a key part of the experience involves strategies from Comfort Promise to offer a supportive and individualized approach.<\/p>\n
Building trust early can make a lasting difference in how children experience health care\u2014something Stella understands firsthand.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s important to know that the people here are not going to hurt you,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy implementing the Comfort Promise hospital-wide, we\u2019re reinforcing our dedication to patient-centered care and sending a powerful message to kids and their families: Your comfort matters here,\u201d explains Dr. Poonai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a step forward for paediatric care, Children\u2019s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is making the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84],"class_list":["post-819790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}