Blog: It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Strategies for Helping Children with Shots and Needles

Did you attend this session and would like an electronic version of the slides that were shown? Please click here to access the pdf. 

Please join Dr. Christine Chambers, Registered Psychologist, and Katie Birnie, doctoral student, for a free community information session titled “It Doesn’t Have to Hurt: Strategies for Helping Children with Shots and Needles.” An opportunity for questions and dialogue will follow the presentation. All are welcome to attend.

Feeling stressed about taking your child for a flu shot this year? Wondering how you can make the experience easier for your child and for you?

This presentation will provide an overview of how parents can best prepare and support their children for painful medical procedures, such as immunizations and blood work.

Practical information for parents will cover:

• When and how to explain procedures to children
• Easy coping strategies parents can use with their children
• What parents should say and do during procedures 
• Ways parents can advocate for the best pain management for their children

Parents will also be provided with information on use of other pain relieving interventions such as topical anaesthetic creams. An overview of how psychologists help children with severe needle fears will also be provided.

Parents will leave this session armed with a plan for making procedures less painful, both for children and their families!

When: Monday, October 1st, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Where: Parker Reception Room, IWK Health Centre
The Parker Reception Room is located on the main floor of the IWK, nearest the Women’s Building entrance.

The Psychology for You series is also available through the Nova Scotia Telehealth Network, a video conferencing communications network that connects health care focused facilities across Nova Scotia. This community information session can be viewed at the following Nova Scotia Telehealth Network locations:

• Annapolis Community Health Centre, Annapolis Royal 
• Valley Regional Hospital, Kentville
• Soldier’s Memorial Hospital, Middleton
• Inverness Consolidated Memorial Hospital, Inverness
• Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Sydney
• Strait Richmond Hospital, Evanston
• Colchester Regional Hospital, Truro
• Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre, Amherst
• St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, Antigonish
• Aberdeen Hospital, New Glasgow
• South Shore Regional Hospital, Bridgewater
• Roseway Hospital, Shelburne
• Yarmouth Regional Hospital, Yarmouth

Please contact the Telehealth Coordinator via the main switchboard at the location nearest you to ensure that this session is being broadcast at your location.

Who: Dr. Christine Chambers, Registered Psychologist, IWK Health Centre

Dr. Chambers is a Registered Psychologist at the IWK and a Canada Research Chair in Pain and Child Health and Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at Dalhousie University and IWK Health Centre. She is based in the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research at the IWK Health Centre. Her expertise is in the areas of pain assessment and management in children, with a focus on the role of parents in helping their children with pain.

Katie Birnie, Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology, Dalhousie University

Katie is a PhD Student in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University, supervised by Dr. Chambers, and is also based in the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research at the IWK Health Centre. She has expertise in the role of families in pediatric pain.

To learn more about Psychology for You, please visit the “Healthy Families” section or the Psychology page within “Care Services” on the IWK website at www.iwk.nshealth.ca.