Open Access“Teddy Bear Hospital Project” school visits improve pre-clerkship students’ comfort explaining medical concepts to children
Author(s) -
Hannah Kis,
Kaitlin Endres,
Anna Karwowska,
Megan Harrison,
Stephanie Ka Ching Lau,
Olivia Lemire,
Marc Zucker
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
canadian medical education journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1923-1202
DOI - 10.36834/cmej.73167
Subject(s) - humanities , medical school , medical education , psychology , library science , medicine , art , computer science
Implication StatementThe “Teddy Bear Hospital Project” (TBHP) is a low cost, international initiative aimed at reducing children’s fears associated with healthcare visits by modelling these interactions using teddy bears. The University of Ottawa program had the additional objective of assessing whether TBHP increased pre-clerkship medical students’ comfort communicating medical concepts to children. Our student volunteers reported a statistically significant increase in their comfort communicating medical topics to young children and all volunteers would recommend TBHP to a colleague interested in pursuing family medicine or pediatrics. Our program could also be easily replicated by Pediatric Interest Groups at other Canadian medical schools.