Caring for Kids: Insights from Three Canadian Hospitals on ChildKind Certification

Explore the realm of ChildKind International in this webinar, delving into the certification process through the lens of three distinguished Canadian hospitals. Gain valuable perspectives on navigating the certification journey, lessons learned, and discover essential insights for upholding a commitment to pediatric pain care and promoting comfort within hospital settings.
Join us for an enriching webinar that goes beyond certification, focusing on the genuine impact and sustained commitment to enhancing the well-being of children in healthcare settings.
Speakers:
Susan Poitras, MSN, M.Sc. Psych, RN, CPT-S, RCC
Clinical Director PainCare 360 and Palliative Care, BC Children’s Hospital
Susan Poitras is a pediatric nurse and healthcare clinician that has dedicated her career to the welfare of children, youth, and families. She has provided pediatric healthcare for almost thirty years in various roles and patient populations at BC Children's Hospital and as a founding staff member of Canuck Place Children's Hospice. Dual trained as a child psychotherapist, counsellor and pediatric nurse; she provided the leadership and vision to BC Children's Hospital and Canuck Place Children’s hospice to both achieve ChildKind designation in March 2023. Her work supports a person and family-centred approach to care, inter-professional knowledge, and quality improvement in pediatric healthcare.
Laura Rayner, BScN, RN MN; Clinical Nurse Specialist Vi Riddell Pain & Rehabilitation Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH)
Laura Rayner is a Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Vi Riddell Pain & Rehabilitation Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This centre focuses on excellence in pain programming across the spectrum of pediatric pain. This is enhanced by partnerships between pediatric pain clinical care and pediatric pain research; and offers specialized programming such as the Intensive Pain Rehabilitation Program (IPRP) for youth and families.
Her 18 years of clinical and leadership experience in areas including the complex pain care, acute pain service, pediatric intensive care unit, transport team and inpatient units has provided her with an in depth understanding of pain prevention, assessment and management. Laura has led program development and quality improvement for the IPRP and knowledge translation pain initiatives for ACH. Her diverse clinical experience and leadership skills were integral during the preparation of the ACH site as it successfully applied ChildKind designation. As part of the multidisciplinary ACH Pain Committee and the Alberta Pain Strategy team, Laura continues to develop and evaluate evidence based pain initiatives to ensure that children and families receive the best pain care possible within the hospital and beyond.
Angela Bokenfohr, BA (Psych); BScN, RN (Pediatrics); MEdHSE , Clinical Nurse Educator, Stollery Children’s Hospital
Angela Bokenfohr is a pediatric nurse and educator that has worked in various clinical settings within the pediatric realm in both acute care as well as community. Angela has worked in educator roles both within the healthcare system as well as various professional programs and national exam boards throughout North America; Angela has developed curricula for interprofessional healthcare teams to learn key concepts around effective team management in relation to the pediatric population; she has a vested interest in Trauma Informed Care and translating that into practice for healthcare professionals.
Meredith Trant, MSW; Program Director, ChildKind International
Meredith holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston College. She has over fifteen years of experience as a Project Manager, specifically with grant funded projects. Prior to joining ChildKind in 2019, her work as a Project Manager gave her experience working within multidisciplinary teams, extensive knowledge of the data collection process, and years of content development experience. Specifically, she was the Senior Project Manager for the Grants division at Inflexxion, Inc., where she managed a team of 4 Project Managers covering over 10 separate Phase I and Phase II grants.
Several of her past projects focused on the field of pain management including the development of a pain management education website. Most recently, she worked on a Phase I grant entitled Mobile Coach for Parents of Children and Adolescents with Chronic Pain, in which the team developed and pilot tested a mobile application providing psychosocial support for parents of children and adolescents with chronic pain. She has co-authored numerous journal articles and participated in several poster presentations. Together these projects grew her interest in the mission of advocating for the appropriate prevention and treatment of pediatric pain.