Rainbow declared its facility a no-hitting zone in 2004, hanging signs announcing the policy and making distinctions between spanking and excessive discipline. Now, incoming nurses are being trained on how to approach parents and stop them violating the policy. The next stage, says Lauren McAliley, assistant director of ethics at Rainbow, is to design the hospital's new emergency waiting room with plenty of things of kids to do. She says kids who are occupied will be less likely to act out.
Lauren McAliley: And parents will have less of a need to discipline in situations where they're already tired. They're anxious about their children and maybe they don't give as much thought to the discipline as they otherwise would.
McAliley says Rainbow is seen as a leader in restraining public discipline with its' comprehensive no-hitting zone education. A growing number of hospitals in Ohio, Florida and California and elsewhere adopting Rainbow's approach.
Lisa Ann Pinkerton 90.3.