Reading as Care for Pediatric Patients

By Marie Hunt
Mommy MD Staff Writer

This holiday season, 135,00 books are being sent to hospitals across the country by a charitable partnership between a literacy program, Reach Out and Read, and Scholastic Book Clubs. Reach Out and Read is a national non-profit organization that promotes reading as care for pediatric patients.

Doctors and nurses in participating clinics and hospitals agree that parents reading aloud to young children is an important part of pediatric care. Reading and singing aloud to children during medical procedures has been proven to greatly reduce stress. In recent studies, young patients have been more engaged and responsive when a parent or caregiver reads or sings aloud, as opposed to simply playing recordings. In a survey conducted in 2005, it was found that 86% of pediatric anesthesia fellowship programs that participated in the survey reported using alternative methods for care and pain management of pediatric patients, including relaxation therapy, guided imagery, and art therapy.

Alternative and non-medicinal pain management for children is a growing trend in hospitals across the U.S. Reach Out and Read provides books annually for a growing number of health care facilities as the positive results are recognized. Researchers believe that further studies are necessary to fully understand the efficacy of this therapy.

References

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTH08429112007-1.htm

Yuan-Chi Lin MDMPH, Anne C. C. Lee MD, Kathi J. Kemper MDMPH, Charles B. Berde MDPhD.2005. Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Pediatric Pain Management Service: A Survey Pain Medicine 6 (6), 452–458.