The Comfort Kids team supports children undergoing a number of procedures and treatments including blood tests, immunisations, dental care, preparation for theatre, care of central lines, dressing changes, medical imaging, or any procedure in hospital that a child might find challenging.

The team also provides resources and coaching for parents to enhance their ability to support and advocate for their child. The resources provided include information sheets, podcasts, and Procedure Support Plans. Comfort Kids also support the RCH staff, with leadership, education, training and consultation, to empower them with the knowledge and tools needed to ensure all patients have the best experience. 

“The Comfort Kids Program makes an enormous difference to the lives of children, families and staff. Without the support of Woolworths through the Good Friday Appeal, procedural pain management at the RCH would not be of such a high standard.” 

Emily Cull, Clinical Nurse Consultant, Comfort Kids 

Comfort Kids helps both inpatients and outpatients to plan for the best possible procedural outcomes, with approximately 400 patients supported by the program each year. 

The program offers preparation support to patients undergoing medical procedures, using a range of pharmacological, psychological and physical treatments:

• Pharmacological support includes procedural sedation medications, with Comfort Kids training the RCH nurses to administer these medication. 
• Psychological support includes a hypnotherapy service offered by Comfort Kids, as well as education and guidance on appropriate language use. Comfort Kids also collaborates with the Procedural Holding Research and Education Committee (PHREC) to develop improved evidence and resources for supporting children during procedures, particularly with positioning 
• Physical supports include virtual reality, the Buzzy Bee (TM), sensory toys and distraction resources. 

The Comfort Kids team supports colleagues from across the hospital, by providing leadership, education, training and consultation, to ensure all patients have the best possible experience. Outreach education to external groups is also provided to ensure that children from wider Victoria are equally supported in coping with medical procedures. 

2026 Program update:

Over the past year, the Comfort Kids program has made a significant impact on the lives of sick children and the medical community in the following ways:

• The Comfort Kids team has delivered a wide range of educational workshops and outreach programs, supporting Victorian health services to implement best-practice approaches in procedural care.
• The team also shared their expertise more broadly through conference presentations, podcast recordings, and other professional forums, contributing to clinical excellence in procedural pain management.
• The program has demonstrated a strong commitment to continuous improvement through the ongoing review and update of procedure documents, the coordination of training materials, tools, and resources, and the promotion of effective coping strategies. For instance:
  • In collaboration with the RCH Education Hub, the team has developed a suite of online learning resources focused on working with children in healthcare. These are available to external clinicians both nationally and internationally.
  • The Comfort Kids Program will also continue to maintain a website accessible to families and health professionals, providing resources to support procedural pain management at the RCH and beyond.
  • The program is leading the update of the RCH’s ward-based and ambulatory sedation guidelines, which will be published in 2026.
• The team also established and strengthened vital collaborations to develop safer clinical pathways and update documentation tools, helping to maximise efficiencies across the hospital and ensure that as many children as possible can access procedural support.
• The service also continues to operate with 2.0 FTE clinical nurse consultant input.