How To Make A Clinical Environment More Friendly To Child Patients

Image via Schnell

As per our previous post about how to make a workplace that inspires creativity and productivity, it would be fair to say that a commercial environment can have a significant impact on the stated goals you’re trying to achieve. No one walks into a law office decorated with bean bag chairs and wacky mirrors against the walls. Instead, the ergonomic furniture, large tables, and professional fittings are designed to convey reliability and timelessness in justice. This inspires trust and protects an appropriate aesthetic.

However, sometimes, your decor must focus on not only productivity but also the needs of your clientele. For example, a medical environment like a dentist's office may seem clean and highly professional. However, this can sometimes scare small children who may worry about the invasive work they must have performed or the alien nature of the environment.

There’s a balance here, of course. In this post, we’ll make some suggestions to help you achieve it:

Add Play Items To The Waiting Room

Instead of having a child worry about waiting to come and see you with their parent or guardian, you might add play items to keep them occupied. Simple wooden blocks or sturdy picture books tend to work well, as they give children something familiar to focus on and can be cleaned easily. Some activities like coloring books help keep the atmosphere calm while still engaging young patients, or you can even integrate a small play station like a pretend kitchen with toy cooking equipment to impress their parents.

Proudly Show Off Patient Or Child Drawings

There's something extraordinary about walking into a medical space and seeing walls brightened by children's artwork. You might notice that young patients feel more relaxed when they spot drawings from other kids their age, as it won’t seem so clinical when they know people their age have visited. It helps create a sense that this space belongs to them, too. Many children take pride in contributing their artwork, so you may even open the wall for that if they want to try, knowing it will help other nervous patients feel more at ease.

Prominently Feature Pictures Of Your Own Children

This is optional, but if you run your practice, sharing a few family photos helps children feel more connected to your practice as if it’s a family space, not just a medical one. That’s not to say you’ll have family hangouts here, of course, but it does show you’re a real, affable person behind the surgical mask and not someone who wants to catch the child out and frighten them, as a little mind might assume. It’s nice for a child to see that friendly photo as they climb onto the comfortable clinical chair as part of the broader medical furniture you’ve installed.

Provide Balloons, Stickers Or A Suitable Sweet

You might discover that simple rewards like stickers work better than sweets since they avoid dietary concerns. However, even dentists may occasionally provide a sugar-free lollipop. Colorful balloons can be lovely, as can stickers that show how brave and cool a child is after their appointment with you. Little toys or gifts can be a nice way to motivate the child each time and also ensure the parent has the privacy to choose what is most suitable for their little one.

Train Staff In How To Interact With & Care For Children

Of course, despite the above advice, how your team engages with young patients can set the tone for the entire visit and beyond it. You’ll likely find success through regular training sessions focused on pediatric communication, often specialized to the kind of practice you’re part of. You'll usually notice that consistent, gentle approaches help children feel more secure, such as a receptionist crouching to the child’s eye level when welcoming them and discussing what’s about to happen. Many staff members naturally develop their style of connecting with nervous young patients, and those who are parents may also adapt to it naturally. However, some new hires may not, so it’s always healthy to have that training pathway in place.

Have Patience

Working with children means accepting that some days will move more slowly than others - it’s a truth that parents, actors, medical staff, teachers, and more learn over time, and quite rightly. You might find that extra time with anxious patients pays off in future visits, even if they cry quite a lot. Some practices build longer appointment slots into their schedule when seeing young children, especially if they may have extra needs such as autism or anxiety worth considering.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily create a friendly clinical environment for your clients' children or the clients' children as chaperoned children themselves.

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