Hospitals can be gloomy environments but it is important to put a smile on people's faces, especially younger patients, and that is exactly what the hospital staff at the Kayseri City Hospital in central Turkey's Kayseri were thinking as they tried to make children happy and overcome the fear of the hospital with fun activities, primarily thanks to nursing candidates.
Nurse candidates doing internships at the hospital wear clown costumes outside of education and give morale to the child patients with the animations they display.
With the approval of the hospital administration, 12 students who study in the nursing department of high schools in various cities and do their internship at Kayseri City Hospital, have been wearing clown costumes three times a month to entertain the children who are treated in the Pediatric Department, and tour the rooms with balloons in their hands accompanied by music, and do various activities.
Deputy Chief Physician of the hospital Dr. Şaban Yüksel told Anadolu Agency (AA) that health vocational high school students voluntarily come together and entertain sick children.
Yüksel emphasized that they care about the socialization of children who have been treated in the hospital for a long time.
"These children need help psychosocially. The children lying here also have a fear of doctors and nurses, so (this) eliminates this fear," he added.
Yüksel stated that they observed that some children accepted treatment more easily after playing with the nurse candidates, and their morale also increased.
Nurse candidate Seda Nur Coşkun also stated that the project is based on volunteerism, that the children who are afraid of hospital are happy, and they see the joy in their eyes with the activities they do.
Coşkun stated that they came to the hospital to entertain the children contributing to their treatment.
"When I work in children's services in the following years, I will better understand what children want to tell me. Taking care of children has taught me a lot," she added.
Emphasizing that she loves children, nurse candidate Hilal Bayrakçı also expressed that making children who are far from their homes happy makes her happy too.
Nurse candidate Hatice Naz Karakaş noted that after school and internship, they voluntarily came together to entertain the children in the hospital.
"Our aim here is to help pediatric patients who refuse treatment," nurse candidate Berna Haber said. "We have seen that children are very happy with even a small gift here. I think these activities will be very beneficial for my profession in the coming years because my communication with children has increased," she explained.
Besim Güçlük, who works at the hospital, stated that they came together to relieve the tears in the eyes of crying children and stated that they managed to make many children happy during the treatment process.
Hilal Bayrakçı, whose child was treated at the hospital, emphasized that the families were happy with the activities.
"It is important to have such events for the mental health of children," Bayrakçı added.