Medical Coping Targeted Toolkit

These Coping Cards represent a collaboration between the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Fred Rogers Productions. Each card teaches strategies to cope with a medical procedure. This Coping Card focuses on having an electrocardiograph (EKG or ECG).

These Coping Cards represent a collaboration between the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Fred Rogers Productions. Each card teaches children and caregivers strategies to cope with a medical procedure. This Coping Card focuses on having an echocardiogram (echo).

Traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress are common among children and families with complex heart defects. Learn how to recognize, prevent, and treat the symptoms.

Going to the hospital can be much less stressful when you and your family are prepared both logistically and emotionally. This resources guides you through the preparation process.

These strategies and resources can help caregivers to keep hospitalized children busy, interested, and engaged. When children are able to maintain routines and participate in activities, they are better able to cope with illness.

Developmental Care is a set of practices that promote healthy child development and family functioning within a hospital setting. Using Developmental Care can protect and promote everyone's well-being in the face of serious illness. This collection of resources describes multiple aspects of Developmental Care.

Medical play can help people of all ages to understand and process their medical experiences, and to build a reassuring sense of control. This resource will teach you to use medical play from infancy into adulthood.

Parents face enormous mental strain when their child has a heart defect. Managing parent mental health is critical for a family's functioning. This article guides parents through understanding and treating their own difficult thoughts and feelings.

Pediatric palliative care can be an invaluable resource for children and families throughout childhood. Palliative care providers collaborate with families to prioritize their values and goals, focusing on all aspects of functioning.

This resource helps caregivers to support their child before, during, and after ECMO treatment, and gives them suggestions for protecting their own mental health even as they care for their child.

This article explains what to expect when a child has a VAD, and helps caregivers learn coping strategies to use throughout the process.

This resource describes the process before, during, and after a heart transplant, and explains how caregivers can promote coping in themselves and their children.

This video teaches caregivers how to recognize and alleviate children's medical anxiety.

Parents often worry about how to talk with children about their diagnosis. This guide will help caregivers to have these conversations with confidence, and to help children feel pride and agency in the face of illness.

This video teaches caregivers how to use comfort positions to keep children calmer and more content in a medical setting.

This presentation from the American Academy of Pediatrics reviews best practices for reducing trauma in infants with heart defects.

Child Life Specialists are specially trained to help children cope with medical treatment and hospital admissions. Learn how they can support your family.

Children have a right to free and appropriate public education whether or not they are healthy enough to attend school in person. Learn about how to advocate for your child's education when they are physically out of school.

This video describes how caregivers can prepare children for medical procedures so that they are better able to cope.

We all know it takes a village to raise a child, and a village is even more vital when a child has a congenital heart defect. This article walks caregivers through the process of identifying and building a support network.

Keeping up with medical care can be difficult when children struggle to take medicine by mouth. This video describes how to teach children to swallow medicine easily and effectively.

Children often struggle to keep up with necessary medical treatments and restrictions at home. This video guides caregivers to support kids in adhering to medical plans.

Chronic pain can severely disrupt a child's life if it is not appropriately managed. These videos explain strategies for managing and living fully with chronic pain.

Many children are afraid of needles, and shots can be extremely challenging. These strategies can help reduce their distress, and help them move through procedures involving with needs more easily.

These resources can help families to locate a therapist who understands their needs, and who can support their coping.

Finding your place within a community is a key ingredients of successful coping with a chronic illness. This article gives suggestions and resources.

In these resources, experts from Boston Children's Hospital teach strategies for managing chronic pain.

These books, websites, and other resources can help children with heart defects to learn about their diagnosis, and to see representations of other children like themselves.