Last academic year, eighty third-year students of the Pedagogy program at The Hague University of Applied Sciences carried out a practical assignment as part of the educational module 'Guiding seriously ill children and their families'. This has produced very good results for both the clients, the professional field and the Knowledge Center for Pediatric Palliative Care. In this article we showcase two group assignments and tell clients Tamara Streng of Vilans (national knowledge organization for long-term care) and Anne Weenink of the Juliana Children's Hospital how they will proceed with the proceeds. Anne Weenink is also involved in the Medical Pedagogical Care department.

New education module

In the 2020-2021 academic year, the Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children has entered into a partnership with the Pedagogy program at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. An educational module has been developed with the professional field and the educational module will be implemented in the spring of 2021. The education consisted of a lesson cycle of eight weekly tutorials and practical assignments.

Practical assignment

The practical assignment for a student consisted of a group and an individual assignment. For the individual assignment, the student interviewed a brother or sister of a sick child, parent, or healthcare professional in order to gain a clear picture of the need for care and support for this family within the pedagogical context. In the group assignment, groups of students worked on a pedagogical issue collected from the field by the Network Integral Child Care Holland Rijnland . The end product had to be a concrete solution for a bottleneck or gap that fits in with - or serves to improve - the care and support for seriously ill children and their families. The pedagogical context formed the starting point. In addition, the product had to be innovative for professional practice. We briefly explain two end products: the brussen bundle and learning from experience stories.

Attention for brothers and sisters with the brother bundle

A seriously ill child and the entire medical process surrounding it demands time and attention from parents, which in many cases means that they have less time and attention for other children in the family. The Juliana Children's Hospital got stuck in the guidance and offering tools to parents to pay attention to brothers and sisters (brothers), in addition to attention to the seriously ill child. The Juliana Children's Hospital has commissioned a group of students to find an answer to the question of how the hospital's medical pedagogical care providers can support parents to pay attention to the brusses with their limited time.

In response to this question, the students have developed a poster, flyer and 'brussenbundle' for the client. The poster and flyer provide information and practical tips for guiding siblings. Educators and parents can use the brussen bundle to start a conversation with the brus, but also to pay attention to the child as an individual. In the concept plan, the brussen bundle contains various tools and games.

“As a department of Medical Pedagogical Care, we are in the process of becoming an official professional association. Part of this is that we are going to create a platform for members. We would like to share the reports of the students there, including the brussen bundle. In this way, all colleagues in the country can use the information and advice they have drawn up. Throughout the country, these are themes that hospitals are working on. This way everyone can integrate it into the plans, methods or systems they already have.” - Anne Weenink, medical pedagogical care provider at the Juliana Children's Hospital and contact person of the Medical Pedagogical Care department .

Learning from experience stories

At the moment, the experience stories and the insights and learning opportunities that emerge from this are not yet optimally implemented in the ultimate care for families with a seriously ill child. In order to improve this in the future, client Vilans has asked the group of students to investigate how students, parents and professionals (such as pedagogues or nurses) can learn together from experience stories.

For this study, a working method was specifically chosen in which participants 'go through' various discussion rounds with the help of a discussion leader. The book 'Dichtbij' by Paula van Driesten was used as a starting point during the discussion rounds. This book is about life as a parent of a seriously ill child. During the meetings, participants went deeper into what the text means and what the writer wants to convey to the reader. The students' research shows that the meetings contribute to the telling of experiences related to loss or grief. These meetings can be used to let professionals learn from experience stories and are therefore also effective for processing or gaining new insights into events of families.

“In addition to bundling and sharing the experiences, we will also see whether we can make a detailed product based on the insights and methods described here. We want to follow up on this in order to gain more experience with the working methods. It would also be nice if we could make a bridge to MBO education. We are not done yet, but we hope to have found a working method that helps with active learning from experiential stories.” - Tamara Streng, knowledge management advisor at Vilans.

Database

The Knowledge Center will make the practical assignments of students with a final mark of 8 and higher available via a database on the website. A summary is made of these practical assignments so that the acquired knowledge and information can be further advanced. The database serves as a source of inspiration for professionals and students. By making excellent practical assignments available, the further development of knowledge is facilitated. This way we prevent valuable information and advice from being left on the shelf.

View the summaries of the group assignments here.

Have the students aroused your interest and would you like to see the full group assignment? Please contact us at info@kinderpalliatief.nl .

The education module will also start again this academic year at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. From February 2022, third-year students of the Pedagogy program will start working again on new practical assignments.

interest

Is your organization interested in submitting a practical assignment yourself or are you interested (in education) in the educational module 'Guiding seriously ill children and their families'? Please contact Marjolein Koot at m.koot@kinderpalliatief.nl .