Aysegul Isler Dalgic
Akdeniz University, Turkey
Title: The significance of theurapetic games in pediatric nursing
Biography
Biography: Aysegul Isler Dalgic
Abstract
Games play a crucial role for children to express themselves and to cope with stress during hospitalization processes. Theurapetic games are the core of psychosocial and cognitive development activities that improve child’s emotional and physical well-being. It has been suggested that theurapetic games reduce stress and traumas caused by the disease and hospitalization processes, help children to cope with stress before, after, and during the medical intervention, and enable the evaluation of child’s emotional reactions against medical interventions. This review aims to highlight the significance and efficiency of theurapetic games in nursing care. As children express their feelings verbally and/or nonverbally through games, theurapetic games are utterly functional for nurses explore children’s world. Theurapetic games are basically structured games and they should be structured in accordance with the child’s age, clinical condition, and cognitive development. Children may be allowed to play with medical masks, nursing uniforms, syringes, and stethoscopes. Nurses can demonstrate how to insert venous cathethers on a teddy bear or baby doll. It is recommended to use theurapetic games in coping with painful and agitative interventions, preparing children for surgical or invasive interventions, and routing pediatric nursing practices based on a traumatic care philosophy.