Tips on Visits from Family and Friends
Time with Your Child
Although you may feel that you need to be at the bedside every minute, the amount of time you spend with your child in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will depend on many things. These may include your child's age and type of illness, the needs of other children and family members, your work schedule and other demands on your time and the need to take care of your own health.
There may be times when we ask you to step out of the unit temporarily for procedures or emergency situations. You may return as soon as the circumstances allow. You may choose to leave the room during any procedure that makes you uncomfortable.
Your Child Needs Rest
Critically ill children need to rest as much as possible. Your child probably will sleep much more than he or she does at home. Please help keep your child's room a quiet, restful place.
Sibling Visits
Visits by brothers and sisters ages 4 to 14 should last no more than 15 minutes. Please notify your nurse in advance when you are planning to bring your child's siblings so your nurse can schedule time with the child life specialist. We try to provide an opportunity for siblings to meet with a child life specialist in order to make sure they understand what they see in the PICU and have a chance to ask questions or talk about things that upset them.
Siblings must be supervised at all times and must be as quiet as possible. There may be some times when no sibling visits will be allowed. For example, in winter, when many children in the community have colds and respiratory infections, we may cancel all sibling visits.
See Friends in the Waiting Room
Each person entering the room can bring new germs into contact with your child. Visitors outside the immediate family should be here only because your child needs to see them, not because they want to see your child. Your friends may want to come to support you. Whenever possible, meet them in the waiting room rather than your child's room.
Please do not go into the rooms of other children on the floor. If you want to talk with family and friends of other patients, please meet in the waiting room.
Information About Your Child's Condition
Hospital staff will discuss your child's condition only with parents or legal guardians. These discussions may be in person or on the phone. Friends and relatives should contact you for information.
You may want to designate a member of your family to be the contact person. You can share information with your designee, who can make or take phone calls from everyone else. This will limit the time you spend on the phone to those calls you wish to make.
If you give out the phone number in your child's room, please understand that the nurses cannot answer these calls.
