Guest guest Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Dear In terms of health promotion, do you cover ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ in the same ‘sack’..or , better still, do you simply use the term ‘health’? Best Wishes Chris Manning www.primhe.org -----Original Message----- From: EDWINA BLAKEMORE [mailto:edwina.blakemore@...] Sent: 01 May 2004 14:18 senate-HVSN Subject: Baby Clinics In line with moving closer towards the family centered public health practitioner role,we are looking to change our baby clinic format by taking the emphasis away from parents/carers waiting to have baby weighed to providing a more baby friendly environment that offers more opportunity for group health promotion as well as individual consultation. We are also investigating the possibility of creating 'story sacks' (as already used in early years) on health promotion themes, for use in clinics and health reviews. Is anyone moving towards or already adopted similar changes? Many thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 How do you intend to use the `story sacks`. My understanding is that in early years, they contain a book with items to help tell the story. i.e. visual aids such as soft toys of aninmals etc. linked to the story. It is an innovative idea, but wondered if you need a static group to use them with; a self-weigh clinic might be a bit too busy. It may be similar to the ideas that Kate Billingham wrote about in her book on group skills. Explaining antenatal care she described a techique of a bag with items in, relating to childbirth procedures to promote discussion. Jeanette > Dear >In terms of health promotion, do you cover ‘physical’ >and ‘mental’ in the same ‘sack’..or , better still, do >you simply use the term ‘health’? >Best Wishes >Manning >www.primhe.org <<a Target='_new' Href='http://talk21.btopenworld.com/redirect.html?http://www.primhe.org/'>http:/\ /www.primhe.org/</a>> > > Baby Clinics > >In line with moving closer towards the family centered public health >practitioner role,we are looking to change our baby clinic format by taking >the emphasis away from parents/carers waiting to have baby weighed to >providing a more baby friendly environment that offers more opportunity for >group health promotion as well as individual consultation. >We are also investigating the possibility of creating 'story sacks' (as >already used in early years) on health promotion themes, for use in clinics >and health reviews. Is anyone moving towards or already adopted similar >changes? >Many thanks, > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2004 Report Share Posted May 6, 2004 Just one point I feel is worth making. In the clinic I worked in 30yrs ago (yes, really!) we had parents sitting in a social circle with toys etc and parents weighed their own babies with help from one another-or the clinic assistant if need be. Decent scales working on the principle of kitchen scales were provided and we felt it to be disempowering to suggest parents couldn't weigh their own babies. They then wrapped the baby in a shawl or whatever so she/he could be seen and handled naked by the HV. We had a really large room so parents were seen in privacy at the far end but HVs could also observe what was going on. We also always had 2 HVs present (or available) so if a parent needed extra time with the HV, others wouldn't be kept waiting. We found that offering quality time to parents in this partnership way meant they came less often as they became less anxious. We then of course had to set up a separate activity for those who wanted companionship etc which was different from whay was on offer in the baby clinic. We also ran evening sessions from 5.00pm-7.00pm each week which were well used. I sometimes feel things have moved backwards since then! Good luck anyway with your venture Frances Frances Appleby Principal Lecturer Programme Director BSc(Hons)/PGDip Community Health Care 020 7815 8014 applebfm@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 9, 2004 Report Share Posted May 9, 2004 Our clinics vary across the Trust,depending on room size, waiting areas,skill-mix staff etc. We are fortunate in our base to have a support worker, nursery nurse and a staff nurse, but have very limited time (and room availability) to do much group work. We do run a post-natal group and have in the past run a parenting gp, (6 sessions) aimed at parents of children aged 9-15 months, focusing on promoting positive behaviour and preventing common problems arising, (sleep, eating, behaviour, potty training etc). We asked the group what they wanted and focused the sessions on their particular needs. Although the parents that came really enjoyed both the content of the sessions and the social interaction, the overall attendance was often disappointing. The clinics are popular and well-established and a recent audit has shown that although most of the clients come to have baby weighed, (at least that was their given reason for coming, thinking back to that excellent presentation by Lowenhoff at the HV conference on20th April) many would also like health promotion/parenting topics. We are now exploring whether we can use (theme) the clinic session to promote a particular topic (posters, display, ?story-sacks) and incorporate a short discussion group either during or immediately after the clinic session Can I also take the opportunity to thank you Francis and Margaret for your keynote speeches on 20th Apil. A really good thought provoking conference, (many thanks to all the speakers). Best wishes, Frances Appleby <applebfm@...> wrote: Just one point I feel is worth making. In the clinic I worked in 30yrs ago(yes, really!) we had parents sitting in a social circle with toys etc andparents weighed their own babies with help from one another-or the clinicassistant if need be. Decent scales working on the principle of kitchenscales were provided and we felt it to be disempowering to suggest parentscouldn't weigh their own babies. They then wrapped the baby in a shawl orwhatever so she/he could be seen and handled naked by the HV. We had areally large room so parents were seen in privacy at the far end but HVscould also observe what was going on. We also always had 2 HVs present (oravailable) so if a parent needed extra time with the HV, others wouldn'tbe kept waiting. We found that offering quality time to parents in thispartnership way meant they came less often as they became less anxious. Wethen of course had to set up a separate activity for those who wantedcompanionship etc which was different from whay was on offer in the babyclinic. We also ran evening sessions from 5.00pm-7.00pm each week whichwere well used. I sometimes feel things have moved backwards since then!Good luck anyway with your ventureFrancesFrances Appleby Principal Lecturer Programme DirectorBSc(Hons)/PGDip Community Health Care020 7815 8014applebfm@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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