Sushma Kumari Saini Barriers and Facilitators Related to Play Among Children in the Hospital Setting of a Tertiary Care Centre, North India.

Introduction: Play is a vital component of child's physical, emotional, social and mental health. All children have right to be included in recreational activities including play. It is the responsibility of the nurses and the physicians to ensure that the child right to care is protected. It includes the child's need to grow, play and learn during their hospitalization. Objective- 1) To identify the barriers and facilitators related to play among children in the hospital setting of a Tertiary Care Centre, North India. 2) To seek the remedial measures suggested by health care personnel to increase opportunities of play. Methodology: After obtaining consent from in charge of the units included in study, overt participatory observations were made and focused group discussion were conducted with HCPs (nurses and doctors) and caregivers. Result: thematic analysis was done, themes and subthemes were generated. Observations related to opportunities of play in paediatric wards/OPD include no policy, no resources and no fixed duration ofplay. Playrooms and toys were available at certain places but they were underutilized due to poor attitude of health care personnel towards play. Major barriers were less efforts and motivation from staff, faculty, administration and government. Hospital are totally dependent on NGO for play; inappropriate staff- patient ratio and HCP were more focussed towards right to survival rather than right to play. The facilitator includes active participation to inculcate play in units by only few (one/two) physicians/nurses. Suggestions provided included increase accessibility of play materials, need to motivate the staff, reduce fear of white apron, reduce screen time, and need of protocol to conduct fixed play sessions in wards. Conclusion: There are concrete barriers and limited facilitators. There is a need to incorporate the suggested measures to tackle barriers in order to make the hospital setup play friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]