The goal of the Teddy Bear Clinic is to decrease the fear and anxiety children experience associated with the healthcare setting. This will be accomplished by exposing children to the hospital and healthcare environment in a friendly and non-threatening manner. The plan is to have children bring a stuffed animal from home to serve as their patient, while they get to function as the physician. The children will take their stuffed animal patient through various stations, exposing them to play and real medical equipment along the way. By having the children serve as the physician, and allowing them to handle toy and real medical equipment acting as the provider, we hope to provide the children with a sense of control over their environment, thereby making the environment less threatening. This clinic will be open to every child in the state of Iowa regardless of whether they have received or will receive medical or surgical treatment at UIHC.
Separate University of Iowa undergraduate, Medicus, and health-care related graduate student organizations shall provide volunteers for the Teddy Bear Clinic and be assigned to the various stations (admission, phlebotomy, anesthesia, surgery, pharmacy, dentistry, etc). Teddy Bear Clinics occur at least once in the Fall and Spring semesters during the academic year.
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