Child Life Specialist

About the role

Harborview Medical Center - Rehab Therapies seeks a Child Life Specialist to work with patients, families, and a multidisciplinary team to facilitate age-appropriate interactions, increase effective patient/family coping, promote optimal development of hospitalized children and the children of hospitalized adults. This position collaborates with other disciplines as appropriate to coordinate continuity of patient care from admission to discharge.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate working knowledge of disease process, precautions, typical medical treatment and diagnostic procedures, functional abilities, complications, and implications of long-term deficits related to primary diagnoses.
• Demonstrates advanced knowledge of the developmental stages and their effects on hospitalizations.
• Create care plans based on admit diagnosis and medical issues impacting stay, assessment of the child’s current developmental stage, temperament, coping style, culture, spirituality, potential stressors, patient and family needs, and social supports.
• Provide a diverse, well-rounded, goal directed treatment program to meet patient’s psychosocial and developmental needs.
• Serves as a resource to other disciplines in the developmental needs of pediatric and adolescent populations; attends patient care rounds including pediatric and burn rounds regularly.
• Communicate interventions to care team members with emphasis on goals, progress, and discharge planning.
• Participates in selected department activities/projects to promote delivery of quality care to the pediatric population.
• Provides education and training to other care team members.
• Maintains professional growth and development through conferences, seminars, and professional affiliations as appropriate.
• Assists with training of volunteers.
• Provides objective feedback on peer evaluations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and certification as a Child Life Specialist.

Qualifications

• Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.