Come Get Your Magic Wand: Nonpharmacologic Treatment of Pain and Anxiety In Children (SA511)

Abstract

1.Discuss the evidence behind music therapy, creative/art therapy, hypnotherapy, and child life activities in reducing pain and anxiety in pediatric patients.2.Describe the use of these techniques in real-world palliative and hospice settings after viewing case-based video examples.3.List three ways that they can apply these techniques in their own clinical practice. In pediatrics, we emphasize non-pharmacologic interventions for pain and anxiety in conjunction with standard pharmacologic treatments. There are many times in a hospitalization or at home that a child needs developmentally appropriate activities to help them understand their diagnosis and cope with their illness. There has been overwhelming success with non-pharmacologic techniques in reducing pain and anxiety and making a child comfortable in both a hospital and home hospice setting. We will be focusing on four specific modalities that are used at many children's hospitals in the United States: music therapy, creative/art therapy, hypnotherapy, and child life activities. We believe that these techniques have widespread applications in adult palliative care patients as well and will emphasize ways for adult providers to expand their toolkit. The data to support each of these modalities will be briefly presented with attention to their potential to alleviate suffering. After a brief didactic presentation, we will view video clips of these modalities in action to demonstrate these techniques in a real-world setting. As a large group, we will then discuss how to incorporate these techniques in a concrete way into a palliative and hospice practice and the associated costs. We will have interactive stations for attendees to experiment with the instruments, paints and child life activities. There will be professionals at each station who have experience using these techniques in their own practice and can provide guidance to the attendees. The large group will reconvene to discuss how to incorporate these techniques into a palliative and hospice practice.