Nursing Commons^™

Children With Developmental Disabilities At A Pediatric Hospital: Staff Education To Prevent And Manage Challenging Behaviors, Norah L. Johnson, Joel Lashley, Alice V. Stoneck, Annette Bonjour

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Children with developmental disabilities may get frustrated in unpredictable hospital environments. Frustration may escalate to challenging behaviors, which are a safety concern and may contribute to staff and patient injuries, use of restraints, and procedure delay or cancelations. The purpose of this article was to describe a pilot staff education program on preventing and managing challenging behaviors of children with developmental disabilities at a pediatric hospital. The 2-hour-long education (1 hour on-line and 1 hour instructor led) content focused on family-centered care and communication skills, including verbal judo™ modified for use in the health care setting. Participants in the instructor-led …