Encouraging a child to comply with their therapy can be challenging in any medical field. Knowing that many young children must deal with various skin diseases, such as eczema or ichthyosis, Fagron Derma introduces ‘Goed smeren is een kunst’ (which loosely translates as ‘Applying cream is an art’): a campaign to motivate kids with skin diseases to engage with their treatments.
Fagron Derma is a part of Fagron Netherlands and developed this campaign together with specialists and dermatologists. The main goal is to make the treatment of applying creams and ointments fun for their little patients and help them remember to follow the treatment every day. This will improve not only patients’ loyalty but also the children’s quality of life.
How does the campaign work?
The heart of the campaign is a fun, easy reward system, where stamp posters help track the child’s compliance and progress. These posters are currently available in three animal illustration designs and each one represents one whole month of therapy. The prescriber writes down the treatment on the provided treatment card. Did the child apply their cream or ointment according to the treatment card? Then he or she can stamp the day off on the poster at the end of the day with a paint marker. At the end of the month, the child has created their own work of art full of stamps!
As soon as the child comes for a follow-up appointment and shows the fully stamped poster(s), he or she will receive a museum frame for their artwork and a gift of their choice. For example, the child can choose the children’s book ‘Zalfje’ (which translates to “Little Ointment”) by dermatologist Elodie Mendels, a stuffed animal called ‘Krabbie de Krab’ (which means ‘Itchy the crab’) or a watercolor box.
And that is not all! They will also get colorful stickers to brighten up the tubes of the creams and ointments, a sticker for the bathroom mirror to remember their daily treatment moments, and a canvas bag to take all the materials home.
By combining the moment of taking care of yourself with a moment of exploring creativity and having fun, the kids will always associate the treatment with something positive. Which one of the rewards is your favorite?
How to participate?
‘Applying cream is an art’ is exclusive to prescribers, (specialized) nurses, and skin therapists. It’s free for both prescriber and patient. Fagron Derma provides this as a service with the aim to decrease the number of children with life-limiting eczema complaints!
You can know more about this and other initiatives towards dermatology at fagronderma.nl (currently only available in Dutch).
