Real time to real life: Puppet simulation in health care

Puppets are used as a medium for learning and teaching, a way to communicate with children and for the purpose of play. Whilst the use of puppets with children in health care is well documented, especially with regards to play therapists and psychologists, little is understood about how nurses use puppets in their practice. Nurses are primarily the ones who engage and deliver clinical and medical care to the sick child in the hospital environment. Hence, effective communication strategies such as puppets could have a positive impact for the child. Understanding the experiences of nurses using puppets in the context of health care delivery including education potentially has merit as there is little known about this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to explore the paediatric nurse clinicians’ and nurse educators’ experience of integrating puppet simulation in their practice, when they are the operator of the puppet. A descriptive phenomenological approach was adopted to guide this study as it was considered an appropriate design to elicit rich descriptions of the lived experience from the participants themselves. The results from this research identified that as wearers of the puppets both paediatric nurse clinicians and nurse educators were able to maximise learner engagement. The paediatric nurse clinicians perceived that the puppets provided a fun learning experience and reduced fear and anxiety for the child. The puppets not only helped to playfully facilitate communication with children but also to playfully communicate and engage learning and teaching. Understanding the perceptions of paediatric nurse clinicians and nurse educators experience provides an understanding of factors that both enhance and detract from implementing puppets in practice. Such information can be used to guide health care professionals who may wish to use the medium of puppets in their practice.