News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville Regional Medical Center providing teddy bears to pediatric patients who visit the emergency room.
CRMC Director of Patient Experience Craig Norris said the hospital has partnered with the Cookeville Regional Foundation to provide the teddy bears. Norris said the hospital had a soft launch in June and the idea went so well they decided to continue it.
“The clinical staff really wanted to use the bears to be able to demonstrate kind of what they are doing,” Norris said. “Practice on the bear and this kind of helps alleviate that child’s fear and helps them you know, as they are going through this difficult time. It’s almost like creating a personalized experience for them where we can show this is what we are going to do to you, we show on the bear.”
Norris said if a child is gonna have a wrap on their arm the teddy bear will also receive a wrap on its arm as well. Norris said the teddy bears have done a good job keeping a child calm as some children can be difficult to care for when they are stressed.
“You can really tell that it’s making a difference for those patients to be able to do that medical play on the teddy bear,” Norris said. “You can see their facial expressions change. They become more calm. They become more confident and it actually helps them to cooperate and relax. It just improves their overall experience and helps those clinicians be able to do better care.”
Norris said the hospital is paying for the teddy bears. Norris said the idea came at a patient experience meeting.
“One of the patient liaisons actually her and another nurse brought it to the committee and said hey we have this great idea,” Norris said. “We recognize the need with our pediatric patients.”
Norris said the hospital was already providing crayons and coloring books but they wanted to take it a step further. Norris said the hospital plans to continue providing bears for pediatric patients.
