Copyright
©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Pediatr. May 8, 2016; 5(2): 143-150
Published online May 8, 2016. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v5.i2.143
Published online May 8, 2016. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v5.i2.143
Minimizing pediatric healthcare-induced anxiety and trauma
Julie L Lerwick, Northwest Psychological Center, Milwaukie, OR 97267, United States
Author contributions: Lerwick JL solely contributed to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Julie L Lerwick, PhD, LPC, NCC, RPT, Northwest Psychological Center, 6902 SE Lake Road, Suite 202, Milwaukie, OR 97267, United States. julielerwick@yahoo.com
Telephone: +1-503-6522810 Fax: +1-503-6528553
Received: July 8, 2015
Peer-review started: July 8, 2015
First decision: July 27, 2015
Revised: August 14, 2015
Accepted: March 7, 2016
Article in press: March 9, 2016
Published online: May 8, 2016
Peer-review started: July 8, 2015
First decision: July 27, 2015
Revised: August 14, 2015
Accepted: March 7, 2016
Article in press: March 9, 2016
Published online: May 8, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: In an effort to reduce healthcare-induced distress leading to anxiety, trauma, and trauma responses in pediatric patients, this author has developed four principles in the choice, agenda, resilience and emotion (CARE) process to deliver emotionally-safe treatment to children: (1) Choices: Provide power in a powerless environment; (2) Agenda: Letting the patient and family know what to expect and what is expected of them; (3) Resilience: Start with strengths and reframe negatives; and (4) Emotions: Recognize and normalize common fears and responses. Through the process of implementing CARE, a child’s healthcare-induced distress can be minimized.