{"id":3416,"date":"2026-04-13T16:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/?p=3416"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:40:17","slug":"building-confidence-and-connection-at-the-barossa-teddy-bear-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/2026\/04\/13\/building-confidence-and-connection-at-the-barossa-teddy-bear-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Confidence and Connection at the Barossa Teddy Bear Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, MD Rural Stream students in the Barossa brought learning to life in the most heartwarming way, hosting their annual Teddy Bear Hospital at Tanunda and Angaston kindergartens. This much-loved activity continues to be a highlight for both medical students and young participants alike.<\/p>\n

Children arrived with their favourite teddy bears and soft toys in tow, ready for a check-up. Under the guidance of the medical students, the children became \u201cjunior doctors,\u201d helping to examine their cuddly patients. From listening to heartbeats with a stethoscope to using an auriscope and carefully bandaging injured teddy limbs, the experience was hands-on, interactive, and full of smiles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beyond the fun, the Teddy Bear Hospital plays an important role in learning and development on both sides. For the medical students, it provides a valuable opportunity to build communication skills and practise engaging with young patients in a supportive, low-pressure environment. For the children, it helps to reduce anxiety around healthcare settings by making medical equipment and examinations feel familiar and non-threatening.<\/p>\n

The day was a resounding success, with laughter and plenty of proud moments shared. Each child left with a clean bill of health for their beloved teddy or toy, along with a certificate to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say the Teddy Bear Hospital continues to be a valued experience\u2014one that nurtures confidence, compassion, and connection in the next generation of both patients and healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, MD Rural Stream students in the Barossa brought learning to life in the most heartwarming way, hosting their annual Teddy Bear Hospital at Tanunda and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2722,"featured_media":3417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4200,3540],"tags":[1364,493,1837,478],"class_list":["post-3416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cmph-student","category-rural-and-remote","tag-flinders-rural-and-remote-health","tag-flinders-university-rural-health-sa","tag-md-rural-stream-mdrs","tag-rural-and-remote-health"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2722"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mph-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}