Taking care of emotional/social needs of teen patients

[anon456, BSN, RN]

I work trach/vent PICU stepdown. Every so often we get teens who are difficult to get to leave the room on a regular basis, because it takes a village to move them, or because they are on isolation precautions. They often spend weeks on the unit. There's only so much TV a person can watch, and friends find it hard to visit. They are out of school, too. So they are completely taken out of what's most important for a teen. Child Life will visit sometimes, and sometimes a teacher comes by, but other than that, they are just stuck and bored. What are some things as an RN that I can do to help them and lift their spirits? What programs or activities do you have at your hospital that I could suggest for teens in this situation?

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Music therapy (extension of Child Life) is a great activity for hospitalized teens. One very depressed young lady I used to care for became a different person when the music therapist was on the unit. Even if all that happened was some acoustic tunes it changed the whole day for her.