Child Life Specialist I

Job Description

Join a world-class academic healthcare system, UChicago Medicine Crown Point, located in Crown Point, Indiana, as Child Life Specialist. UChicago Medicine is an integrated academic and community health system with multiple primary medical facilities within the surrounding suburbs of Chicago.  UChicago Medicine, Crown Point is a new two-story, 130,000-square-foot multispecialty care center and micro-hospital in Northwest Indiana for what will be the academic health system's largest off-site facility and its first freestanding building in Indiana.  It is anticipating an opening in Spring 2024.

Our Child life specialist's focus on each child's psychological and developmental needs to help him or her feel more comfortable in the hospital. We use a wide range of medical dolls, teaching tools and resources to prepare each child for procedures, surgeries and treatments. Since children grow and learn through play, we offer many opportunities for kids to do just that, as well socialize with other young people in the hospital. Our child life staff provides a wide range of supportive services for babies, children and adolescents.

The Child Life Specialist will provide psychosocial support to children and families during hospitalization and will be responsible for designing and maintaining the physical, therapeutic, developmental and educational environment of Child Life Services in a manner that promotes a child/family friendly atmosphere. The Child Life Specialist lends expertise and knowledge of child growth and development to the healthcare team, adjusts interaction and/or treatment to match each patients developmental, educational and other related needs.

Essential Job Functions 

• Assess patients/families' psychosocial and developmental needs within the context of their adjustment to the healthcare setting.
• Facilitates appropriate interventions through individual and group play/art activities, therapeutic activities/medical play, preparation for procedures, surgeries and potentially stressful events.
• Formulates treatment goals.
• Documents weekly Child Life interventions and services on weekly reports and computer census. Documents in patient's medical chart adhering to departmental policy.
• Orders, stocks, and maintains supplies; maintains play areas with developmentally appropriate toys/activities that are clean and safe.
• Initiates and implements new programs/projects as assigned by Director of Child Life.

 Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor's Degree with a concentration in child life 
• An internship in a child life program over 500 hrs
• Certification eligible as a Child Life Specialist and acquired with one year of employment
• One to two years’ work experience with infants, children or adolescents
• Knowledge and skills necessary to utilize theoretical constructs of human development for assessment and intervention for infants through teenagers
• Interpersonal skills necessary to establish therapeutic relationships with children and their families, as well as effective communication
• Analytical skills necessary to identify and solve problems within a constantly changing and stressful environment 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Master's Degree with a concentration in child life 
• Hospital setting work experience as a Child Life Specialist
• Child Life Specialist certification 

Position Details 

• Job Type/FTE: Full-Time, 1.0FTE
• Shift: Day
• Unit/Department: Child Life 
• CBA Code: Non-Union
• Location: Crown Point, IN

Must comply with UCMC’s COVID-19 Vaccination requirement as a condition of employment. If you have already received the vaccination, you must provide proof as part of the pre-employment process. This is in addition to your compliance with the Flu Vaccination requirement as well. Medical and religious exemptions will be considered consistent with applicable law. Lastly, a pre-employment physical, drug screening, and background check are also required for all employees prior to hire.

Why Join Us

We’ve been at the forefront of medicine since 1899. We provide superior healthcare with compassion, always mindful that each patient is a person, an individual. To accomplish this, we need employees with passion, talent and commitment… with patients and with each other. We’re in this together: working to advance medical innovation, serve the health needs of the community, and move our collective knowledge forward. If you’d like to add enriching human life to your profile, The University of Chicago Medicine is for you. Here at the forefront, we’re doing work that really matters. Join us. Bring your passion.

________

Bring your career to the next level at a hospital that is thriving; from patient satisfaction to employee engagement, we are at the Forefront of Medicine. Take advantage of all we have to offer and #BringYourPassiontotheForefront.

University of Chicago Medicine is growing; discover how you can be a part of this pursuit of excellence at: www.uchospitals.edu/jobs 

The University of Chicago Medical Center is an equal opportunity employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, civil union status, parental status, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status and other legally protected characteristics.