It was my first day in paediatrics and a little boy came in. I was trying to take his blood pressure and check his other vitals, but he wouldn’t stop screaming and crying because he didn’t want to be there. The whole thing clearly made him uncomfortable, which is understandable because hospitals can feel like scary places when you’re that young.”
Favour Essien
05 December 2024
Medical student creates children's book to soothe hospital fears
Favour Essien, a medical student at King’s, has written and published children’s book Pip’s Hospital Trip to help kids feel more at ease in hospitals.
Pip’s Hospital Trip is about a young girl named Pip who gets a high fever and needs to go to hospital. She is treated by nurses and doctors, learns about medical procedures and meets an array of friendly characters while discovering that there’s nothing to fear along the way.
The book, which is aimed at three to five-year-olds, was written by Favour Essien, a third-year medical student currently studying at our GKT School of Medical Education. But it was on placement in the paediatrics ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital that inspired her to write the book.
A keen poet while at school, along with other creative hobbies such as baking and acting, Favour saw this as an opportunity to combine her passions for medicine and the arts. She wrote the story in rhyming couplets and loosely sketched out the images on each page.
From there, she enlisted a freelance illustrator, Olesia Tolstopiat, to turn her sketches into colourful, fully imagined pictures. She also incorporated into the story fun, hospital-themed activities like dot-to-dots, mazes, colouring pages and other games.
Favour has ambitious plans for where Pip could go next.
I already have a trilogy planned out in my head. If it really gets taken on by hospitals, I could see Pip becoming a sort of mascot on the wards, inspiring bravery in the children there.”
Favour
Follow the story of Pip’s Hospital Trip on Instagram by following the account @piptrips_ or purchase a copy on Amazon here.
