Teddy bears help students warm to healthcare

Teddy bears became patients for a day at Drouin West Primary School recently, as Monash University medical students helped prep students learn about healthcare in a fun and reassuring setting.

The school hosted a Teddy Bear Hospital visit, with children bringing toys from home to move through interactive stations covering healthy eating, plastering, X-rays and basic medical checks.
At each station, students helped care for their toy patients while speaking with the visiting medical students, who explained procedures in a friendly and age-appropriate way.
David Poland from Monash Rural Health said the program was designed to make children feel safer and more comfortable around doctors, hospitals and medical appointments.
"It's just to make children feel really safe and aware of going to the doctors and hospitals, and to know doctors are quite friendly and helpful," he said.
The visit also gave the university students valuable practical experience. The group included second-year students visiting the region and third-year students based locally for longer placements.
Third-year Monash medicine student Shivi Maheshwari said the program also was designed to improve the students' communication skills.
"Future doctors will obviously have to deal with children in lots of specialties, including paediatric care," Shivi said. "The Teddy Bear Hospital helps students develop their skills in dealing with younger patients."
Drouin West Primary School principal Christie Bransgrove said the session gave children a positive reference point if they later needed medical care.
"If they ever end up involved in an incident, or they're seeing nurses and doctors, or there's an ambulance visit, they've got something to relate it back to," she said.
The toy-based activities were designed to make unfamiliar healthcare experiences a little less intimidating for children.
The Teddy Bear Hospital is a long-running Monash University medical student initiative aimed at reducing children's anxiety around healthcare and building health awareness through play.
At Drouin West, the program proved a lively hit, with students proudly carrying their toy patients between stations, some complete with miniature bandages and plastered limbs.