Healing Arts Program Enhances Young Patients’ Health and Healing
by Kyle McDonald, MFA, C-IAYT, Healing Arts Coordinator at Hasbro Children’s Hospital
As Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, 19th Surgeon General of the United States says, "Within the arts, lies a powerful but largely untapped force for healing. The arts and science are two sides of the same coin which is our shared humanity. Our ability to live fulfilling healthy lives depends on bringing these two forces together."
There is clear evidence that a patient’s physical well-being is fundamentally linked to their emotional and spiritual well-being and that the expressive arts can play a decisive role in promoting overall health and healing. The Healing Arts Program at Hasbro Children’s Hospital is an integral and standard part of patient care. A core staff of four and over 25 contracted arts professionals, offer therapeutic visual arts, writing, dance, musical performance, and instruction, all of which cultivate creative expression, and are known to reduce pain perception, anxiety, and symptoms of depression in hospitalized children.
New Referral Service Offers a Wide Range of Interventions for Patients
In the spring of 2023, the modalities of massage therapy, yoga therapy, and acupuncture were folded under the umbrella of Healing Arts and offered to providers and clinicians by referral through the new, secure chat option, Pediatric Healing Arts / Integrative Therapy, which is available on EPIC, our medical records system. These modalities were and remain part of the Hasbro Palliative Care, ChIPS service (Children’s Integrative Therapy, Pain Management and Supportive Care). By combining efforts and creating the new referral service, treatment teams can request a wide and comprehensive menu of non-pharmacological interventions which assist in pain management and supportive care as well as acknowledging the unique needs and emotional well-being of each patient.
The ease in coordination and collaboration offered through this new service became evident quickly. Clinicians in behavioral health, occupational and physical therapy (PT), child life, and physicians, nurses and spiritual care staff were added to secure chats to help provide individualized services and treatment plans for patients. A recent example of this multi-disciplinary use of Healing Arts services was evident in a care plan for a child who was having difficulty meeting their PT goals. With the addition of live music and massage therapy for pain management and meditative breathing techniques, the child was able to reduce anxiety. This is just one example of many in which diversity of healing arts modalities can assist patients in achieving their treatment plan goals.
Engaging Activities to Create Healing Spaces
In addition to these targeted interventions, the Healing Arts team offers hands-on art projects and live music seven days a week in many locations throughout Hasbro Children’s Hospital including the emergency department and inpatient units and the ambulatory, clinical decision, behavioral health, pediatric intensive care clinics and unit, as well as the therapeutic feeding center and surgical services. These enhancement programs provide joyful and engaging activities while creating peaceful and nurturing healing spaces within the hospital.
Hasbro Children’s core values include compassion for the people we serve, accountability for the service we deliver, respect for every individual’s well-being and passion for excellence. The Healing Arts program exemplifies these values and offers its pediatric patients the opportunity to explore the limitless realm of imagination and self-expression, supporting them to identify with more than the illness for which they are being treated.
The Healing Arts program at Lifespan has earned national recognition as part of a worldwide movement to enrich the hospital environment through the arts, creating nurturing and healing environments, while contributing to patient satisfaction and positive healthcare outcomes.