I chose to write a two-person perspective poem based on an encounter I had in my first HCA shift. I was based in a  ward where most children were aged between 6 weeks and four years on that particular shift. One patient was a four-year-old girl who had been living in hospital since the age of two. She had a severe metabolic disorder that meant she could not live at home. I was inspired by this patient as she was a very bright, happy child despite her situation however I noticed that her mother appeared reserved, tired, and stressed. This was reflected throughout the ward as most of the children were too young to understand their situations but instead their parents were the ones feeling the emotions for their child. This is why I chose this clinical encounter because it is really important for staff working in paediatric settings to understand how the family are feeling and what can be done to ensure they receive the best care.

I felt a two-person perspective poem including a mother and a child who have been living in hospital for around two years would work best for this encounter. I wanted to highlight the contrast between the feelings of the mother and child for example, the mother feels upset by the thought of all the childhood experiences that her child is missing out from due to being in hospital such as making friends at school, having big birthday parties and enjoying holidays like Christmas and Halloween at home. Whereas the child does not necessarily feel this way as they do not know any different to the experiences they have had in hospital. Throughout the poem I wanted to illustrate the progression of the child from not knowing where they were staying (referring to hospital as a children’s hotel) to understanding that they are not very well and that is why they cannot leave (not understanding why they are still in hospital at the end of the poem). I decided to split the poem onto two sides of the page to show the contrast in experience between mother and child and chose different fonts. I chose a more professional font for the mother as she must maintain a professional, strong persona to protect her child and chose a more childish font for the child to illustrate that they can be themselves with less responsibility.

From this clinical encounter I learnt that, in paediatrics the doctor, along with the rest of the staff, are not only concerned with the patient but also the parents. This is vital as the parents are the primary care givers to the child, so they need to be in a stable place themselves to look after their child. When creating the piece, I learnt how much of an impact illness has on families as I had to put myself in each individual’s situation and imagine how I would feel. This really highlighted the emotional and physical impact the illness of a child can have on a family and how much difference the staff can make in their experience in care.