Piet Leroy

I was born 52 years ago in a small Belgian town. Although most of my active time is absorbed by working, I have some time left to invest in my family and hobbies. My main hobbies are hiking, reading, old music and bread baking. I am particularly proud of my sour dough loafs. I am a senior consultant in paediatric intensive care, an associate professor in medical teaching and director of the paediatric procedural sedation unit at Maastricht University Medical Centre. My specific field of interest concerns seeking solutions for pain and anxiety related to medical procedures.

One of the solutions I found is the 'Procedural Comfort Care', which I like to share as a new paradigm in paediatric health care. Procedural comfort care integrates systematically medical care and comfort-directed care as two equally important therapeutic goals. This type of care requires the integration of interdisciplinary expertise. Healthcare clowns have a great expertise in connecting with children and navigating their emotion from fear to trust. Therefore, they might play a major role in teaching other healthcare professionals the basics of how to establish trust in children.