Certified Child Life Specialist - Levine Children's Hospital & Huntersville ED

Overview

**Current Child Life Certification required.**

6:30- 1900 Saturdays and Sundays - Inpatient at Levine Children's Hospital 

Two Additional Weekdays - Atrium Health Huntersville ED

Child Life has been a part of Atrium Health's Carolinas Medical Center since 1977, and at Levine Children's since its opening in 2007. The Child Life Department has more than 30 staff members, including:

• Child life manager
• Two child life lead positions
• Child life specialists/child life education specialists
• Child life assistants

The areas in which we provide services are as follows:

• Children's emergency department
• One-day surgery
• Levine Children's Specialty Center
• Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Outpatient Clinic
• Radiology
• Rehabilitation unit
• Pre-operative/post-anesthesia care unit (surgery)
• Pediatric intensive care unit/cardiovascular intensive care unit
• Neonatal intensive care/progressive care nurseries
• Progressive/renal care unit
• Neurology clinic
• Adult intensive care units
• Child life education specialists – assists with school re-entry and educational plans
   

Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital (LCH) has taken the community to another level of service in order to provide care for the growing population of children in our region.  At 247 beds, LCH is the largest children’s hospital between Atlanta and Washington DC.  It serves high patient acuity as the flagship children’s hospital within the innovative Atrium Health and offers a full complement of over 125 pediatric subspecialists in over 25 different pediatric specialties.  There are 4 pediatric hospitalist teams, a 20-bed PICU (including Cardiac ICU), an 85-bed NICU, and an inpatient pediatric rehabilitation facility.  Levine Children’s also has the region’s first 24/7 emergency room just for kids, staffed by doctors trained in pediatric emergency medicine.  LCH has repeatedly been ranked among the “Best Children’s Hospitals” in the nation by US News & World Report.

Job Summary

Provides information, education, support and guidance to parents, siblings and other family members. Promotes effective coping and play, preparation, education and self-expression activities. Provides emotional support for families and encourages optimum development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences, particularly those related to healthcare and hospitalization.

Essential Functions

• Plans, implements, and evaluates short and long term goals to support the psychosocial and developmental needs of the pediatric and neonatal patients.
• Works with the multidisciplinary team to provide education to patients and families and to formulate and implement a plan of care.
• Collaborates with appropriate departments when planning and implementing special activities and events that assist the patient and family with normalizing their hospital experience.
• Serves as a patient and family advocate through the philosophy of family centered care.
• Assists with planning, presenting and evaluating in-service education.
• Works with the Child Life Assistants and Volunteer Services to on-board and evaluate volunteers as needed.
• Provides education and supervision of student interns for the Child Life Department.
• Assists with on-boarding and mentoring of new teammates and Child Life interns.

Physical Requirements
Work requires walking, standing, silting, lifting, stooping, bending, reaching, pushing, and pulling. Must be able to lift and support 51 pounds of weight in handling patients, medical equipment, and supplies.

Education, Experience and Certifications

Bachelor's Degree in Human Growth and Development, Education, Psychology or a related field of study. Experience with completion of student placement/internship in a Child Life Program in a healthcare setting required. Current Child Life Certification required. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required. Good organization and time management skills are required.