An infant. Something simple, ....use to basically distract or entertain. how old so you want the infant to be? If you choose say six months - nine months you can make a puppet out of a white washcloth easily and use it for storytelling activity, make more than one and put one on each hand....that will cover all your objectives.
The child is too young to be part of the construction, that would be easy with a toddler or older....use yarn for decoration, hair etc....
You want something that if the child reaches for it, you can safely give it to them .....could use a flannel baby swaddler or something like that too....but wash cloths are really easy to obtain in hospital.
What would the therapeutic value be? I guess I don't understand what the diagnosis has to do with making a play project for this infant? What would we be distracting him from? What interventions will the healthcare team be administering to this patient that would need distraction?
I guess in my head, an infant is a tiny newborn but technically I can use the 6-9 month range when they are more alert and playful. I don't know the treatments, besides fever reducing medication, that the infant would be taking.
Therapeutic value...the infant is interacting that has therapeutic value....look at it as more of "play therapy", as far as healthcare team etc, you are distracting the child while they do ??? fill in the blank, take temp, blood pressure, blood samples. I think tiny too but an infant can be up to a year (if I remember correctly).....
remember it's fever of unknown origin, so they will be doing tests to find out what is going on.
what course is this for?
Nursing pediatric class. I swear I was given the hardest patient :(. I could easily come up with ideas for toddlers-teens but infants threw me for a loop. I do understand your reasoning though. I will give it a try. Can I print this conversation for future reference??
sure you can, I agree this could be challenging. You'll get it done, ask for me if you need anymore help and please accept when you leave the chat.....good luck...you'll be fine! don't overthink it either...