title: Working with children: a medical practice staff training tool.
abstract: The majority of medical practices have children visit them at least some of the time. The medical practice staff must be ready to work with the children who have appointments or who accompany adult patients. Knowing how to minimize confrontational situations and acting-out behavior with children will go a long way to maintaining a calm and pleasant office environment for everyone. This article explores the most common fears and concerns children have about visiting medical practices. It suggests specific ways the medical practice staff can coach parents and caregivers about a child's upcoming appointment. This article also offers 25 practical strategies the staff can use when working with the children who visit the practice, a checklist of items to discuss with children about an upcoming checkup, and 30 alternative ways to say "good job" to a child who visits the medical practice.
authors.affiliation: merlegerle@aol.com
authors.forename: Laura Sachs
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Hills
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety; D001010:Anxiety, Separation; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000592:standards*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011216:Practice Management, Medical; D012449:Safety; D014481:United States