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Miami, Florida
Posted: 08-Sep-23
Location: Denver, Colorado
Salary: Open
Internal Number: R2601
We are here for life's journey.
Where is your life journey taking you?
Being the heartbeat of Denver means our heart reflects something bigger than ourselves, something that connects us all:
Humanity in action, Triumph in hardship, Transformation in health.
Department
Child Life ProgramJob Summary
Under general supervision, works in a health care setting focusing on the emotional and developmental needs of children and their families. The specialist reduces stress associated with the health care experience and enables a child and their family to cope by providing play experiences, presenting medical information in a way that children can understand, and encouraging family involvement in the child's medical care. The specialist works in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary healthcare team and other professionals in ambulatory care, emergency care, and inpatient settings.
Essential Functions:
- Establishes a therapeutic relationship with the child's family members to promote and support family involvement in each child's care.
- Serves as an educator and support to parents/family members to provide family centered care services.
- Assists family members in understanding their child's response to treatment and care.
- Monitors the child's reaction to events and provides the staff with timely information to supplement the health care services to the child.
- Provides sibling support and education to assist in their comprehension of his/her sibling's medical encounter.
- Assesses the coping responses and the needs of children and families.
- Information is gathered to develop a plan of care including interventions to address the needs of the child and family.
- Continuing evaluation of intervention effectiveness is part of the ongoing plan of care. Uses normative and/or therapeutic play opportunities to encourage expression of feelings, promote a sense of mastery and understanding of health care experiences, and to minimize stress associated with health care experiences.
- Provides psychological preparation to children prior to undergoing medical procedures using expressive play and other techniques to minimize stress or fears related to medical procedures.
- Works closely with multidisciplinary team to ensure that the patient's physical and emotional needs are addressed.
- Provides ongoing consultation with these services to ensure clear communication and that the best interests of the patient are consistently met.
- Recognizes the developmental issues specifically related to healthcare experiences.
- Documents services in patient chart. Updates documentation as care plans change.
- Responsible for selecting and maintaining developmental toys and other materials related to the Child Life role.
- Tracks and monitors toys and materials to ensure that appropriate materials, equipment and activities are clean and available for use.
- Provides education to healthcare staff and to the community regarding the value of Child Life Services.
- Provides training and supervision to volunteers, students and others participating in the Child Life Program.
Education:
- Bachelor's Degree required.
Work Experience:
- 1-3 years of experience as a Certified Child Life Specialist in a hospital setting is highly preferred.
Licenses:
- CCLS-Certified Child Life Specialist - ACLP - Association of Child Life Professionals required.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Knowledge of normal human growth and development.
- Ability to interact with infants, children, youth and families by possessing a significant knowledge of child life work.
- Ability to assess the psychosocial needs of children and families and facilitate positive coping strategies to mitigate psychological trauma related to healthcare encounters.
- Microsoft office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Apple devices and technology.
Shift
Days (United States of America)Work Type
RegularSalary
$50,600.00 - $73,300.00 / yrBenefits
Competitive pay
Outstanding benefits
Education opportunities
Shared leadership and advancement opportunity
State-of-the-art facilities
Immediate retirement plan matching
Professional clinical advancement program
Participation in evidence-based projects
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligible employer
National Health Service Corps (NHCS) and Colorado Health Service Corps (CHSC) eligible employer
Our Values
Respect
Belonging
Accountability
Transparency
All job applicants for safety-sensitive positions must pass a pre-employment drug test, once a conditional offer of employment has been made.
Denver Health is an integrated, high-quality academic health care system considered a model for the nation that includes a Level I Trauma Center, a 555-bed acute care medical center, Denver's 911 emergency medical response system, 10 family health centers, 19 school-based health centers, Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety, a Public Health Institute, an HMO and The Denver Health Foundation.
As Colorado's primary, and essential, safety-net institution, Denver Health is a mission-driven organization that has provided billions in uncompensated care for the uninsured. Denver Health is viewed as an Anchor Institution for the community, focusing on hiring and purchasing locally as applicable, serving as a pillar for community needs, and caring for more than 185,000 individuals and 67,000 children a year.
Located near downtown Denver, Denver Health is just minutes away from many of the cultural and recreational activities Denver has to offer.
We strongly support diversity in the workforce and Denver Health is an equal opportunity employer (EOE).
Denver Health values the unique ideas, talents and contributions reflective of the needs of our community. For more about our commitment to diversity visit: https://www.denverhealth.org/for-professionals/careers/diversity-and-inclusion
