PLAY PROJECT GUIDELINES

The purpose of the play project is to use the nursing process to provide an opportunity for the student to:
Assess a pediatric patient’s need for play. This must be a child from your NUR 4410 clinical experience. This cannot be a child that you already assessed for a growth & development worksheet.
Evaluate the patient’s growth and development status and reaction to hospitalization.
Develop a play intervention that is appropriate for the patient’s developmental level and need.
Participate with the patient in the play intervention.
Evaluate the play and propose new/different play activities.

The project should include the following –
An in-depth assessment of the patient which includes:
Age and developmental status including physical growth, cognitive growth (Piaget), developmental task (Erikson), and social/cultural/spiritual/moral development. For each area, include at least 3 examples of the expected behaviors as well as 3 examples of the actual behaviors.
Impact of hospitalization on the family (social and spiritual).
Current health status and reason for admission; include pathophysiology of the disease process, labs, clinical data related to admission including physical assessment findings, current limitations related to illness, and other ways in which the hospitalization and or illness may be affecting current growth and development needs, and also the impact of the illness on the patient.
Reaction to hospitalization compared to expected age-related reaction. Provide at least 3 examples of expected behaviors and actual behaviors.
Parents and nurses verbal and nonverbal interactions with patient.
Give examples of patient behavior for each area.
Theory of play – Utilize reference material to describe various types of play with hospitalized children.
Discuss the importance and benefits of play for a hospitalized child. Relate the theoretical information to your play experience. Discuss what specific play activities are appropriate for this age group and give 3-5 examples. Do not discuss play therapy as it relates to emotionally disturbed children. Do not discuss play as it relates to your child in this section. Information specific to your patient will be included later in the paper
A play intervention plan which includes:
Goal(s), rationale, necessary materials and setting, time involvement, and description of actual play experience. This should provide an in-depth description of how you participated in therapeutic play with a child.
Evaluation of intervention with suggestion for future intervention
Evaluate the play activity. Was it successful? How did your play activity benefit the child? What made your play activity therapeutic? Discuss potential improvements or changes for the activity. What other types of play could you do with this child? Be specific.
Conclusion
How did Franciscan values influence care for this child and their family? What did you learn about the importance of play for hospitalized children? How will this learning activity influence your future nursing care?
It is expected that the student will utilize at least 5 references for this project including the course textbook. Three of these references must be from nursing journals.
This paper must be typed. Turn in one copy of the paper, with your grading sheet, to your clinical instructor.