Child-Friendly SARS-CoV-2 Testing Training

As the nation mobilizes to respond to COVID-19, there is a pressing need for increased pediatric testing capacity. To address this need, we partnered with an interdisciplinary team of nurses, simulation educators, child life specialists, and physicians at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). We created an online learning module to train healthcare professionals who currently provide COVID-19 testing services, but do not typically work with infants, children and/or adolescents. These professionals may be skilled in testing techniques but may not feel comfortable performing tests on pediatric patients.

The module’s learning objectives include: 

1.    Using age-appropriate language to prepare caregivers and patients for testing; 
2.    Using age-appropriate comfort holds and distraction techniques to aid the testing process; 
3.    Performing nasopharyngeal swab testing on pediatric patients; 
4.    Discussing infection prevention and control guidelines for COVID-19 testing in pediatric patients; and 
5.    Identifying resources for pediatric information on COVID-19. 

The learning module provides didactic material, video demonstrations of COVID testing for infants, children and adolescents, and links to resources. The course takes approximately one hour to complete, and users are asked to complete a short learning assessment at the end of the module.