Episode 85: Reducing Children's Fear of Shots and Doctors Visits: Interview with Dr. Jody Thomas
In today’s episode, I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Jody Thomas, who is a licensed clinical psychologist, and specialist in pediatric medical illness and trauma. She is an internationally known expert on pediatric pain, she is also a founder and CEO of the Meg Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering kids and families to prevent and relieve pain and medical anxiety. She is the former Clinical Director of the Packard Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center at Stanford, and a former Assistant Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Though she now lives in Denver, CO, she still serves as Adjunct Faculty for Stanford, providing supervision and teaching. She is passionate about bringing together the power of medical science, technology and design to transform the way we think about kids and pain and ensuring kids have a positive relationship with healthcare.
In this episode we discussed:
The importance of pain mitigation strategies for infants and children
Resources for parents: Pain Champions Guide for parents
The Be The Boss Of Your Brain video that Dr. Thomas did for Stanford. It’s being used in several different hospitals, and they have conducted some great pilot studies looking specifically at parent self efficacy around procedures.
ImaginAction is a self hypnosis project that Dr. Thomas did for Stanford
The Provider Kit that parents can share with their pediatrician
Here is an article written by Dr. Thomas talking about this further
How to follow/get in touch with Dr. Jody Thomas:
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Find other episodes at: www.findingyourvillage.com/podcast