Plugging into Play: A VAD Playgroup

Abstract

Our institution experiences a high volume of children supported on paracorporeal Ventricular Assistive Devices (VAD), presenting a high demand for Allied Health support. To increase efficiency of Allied Health support we piloted a VAD playgroup twice weekly for children aged 0-3 years. We wanted to explore how this would impact on parental confidence in providing developmental opportunities, children achieving nominated goals, and perceived opportunities for socialisation in a hospital environment. A secondary outcome was to evaluate the safety of a VAD playgroup. We scheduled a playgroup twice weekly using the play space on the cardiac ward. It involved a rotating roster of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, child life therapists and music therapists, with two therapists attending each session. Parents were given information handouts, and individualised goals were set for each child with the parents using the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS). The format included welcome and goodbye songs, books, individualised developmental play, and a group activity. Our pilot group consisted of 4 children whom had been on VAD for varying lengths of time (29-204 days). Parent confidence, and opportunities for socialisation were assessed using pre- and post-surveys. Therapeutic benefit was assessed using each child's GAS goals. Safety was evaluated through adverse events. Parents reported increased confidence in positioning their child for play (average 7.75 to 9.25 out of 10), encouraging their child's mobility (average 7.25 to 9.25 out of 10), opportunities to play with hands (average 7.5 to 9.75 out of 10), developing communication skills (average 6.5 to 8.5 out of 10) and in supporting their child's development (average 7.25 to 8.75 out of 10). All parents reported an increase in providing socialisation opportunities for their child, and increased satisfaction in providing developmental play opportunities. All children showed improvement in their individualised goals.There were no adverse events requiring medical attention during the pilot period. The VAD playgroup pilot was found to be safe and beneficial for children's neurodevelopment whilst on VAD. It has continued as part of our routine clinical service.