keeping your child safe

Before your visit, update your child's medication list. If there is not time, then bring the medicine with you. Medication lists should include:

• Any medication and food allergies
• Why your child is taking the medicine (cold, allergies, etc.)
• How much your child is taking (dosage or strength)
• How your child is taking it (pill, liquid, oral, injection)
• Who prescribed the medicine
• Any over-the-counter medicine your child is taking (Tylenol, cold syrup, vitamins and herbals)
• Any dietary supplements (Pediasure, Ensure)
• Let us know about any allergies to latex (balloons, gloves) or dyes.

• Read all the information provided to you about your child's condition.
• Complete any preadmission testing and make sure results are sent to your doctor.
• Ask that test results be explained to you so you can help make informed decisions about your child's care.
• Does your child need to stop eating before a test or procedure? If so, when?
• Can your child continue to take his or her medicines?

• Give the nurse or doctor an updated copy of your child's medication list.
• Provide copies of all preadmission test results and any other appropriate paperwork.
• Ask the nurse or doctor what you should expect during your child's hospitalization.
• Ask if your child can speak with another child who is undergoing the same treatment or procedure.
• If your child needs a blood transfusion, make sure you get information about the transfusion process and understand possible reactions.

Make sure the nurse checks your child's hospital identification band before giving your child any medicine or performing any procedure.

• Every child has specific and different needs. To make sure the special care your child needs is provided to your child only, we check your child’s wristband every time we do something. Please be patient if we check your child’s wristband while he or she is asleep.
• Also, if we forget, please remind us!
• Tell your nurse right away if anyone removes the identification band from your child's arm/leg and help remind us to replace it.

• If a nurse comes to hang an IV bag or give a medication, ask what it is and what it is for.
• If the medication looks different from what your child received before (different color or liquid instead of a pill), then ask the nurse to double-check.
• If your child is moved to another room, make sure all important information is reconfirmed with the new nurses and/or doctors.
• Make sure all care providers on each shift are aware of your child's special needs.

• Be certain that bed rails and crib rails are up to keep your child from falling.  Our cribs and mattresses are higher than what you might have at home.
• Remind your child there is no running in the hospital.
• Make sure your child is wearing slippers or shoes when not in her bed or crib.  This will help prevent falls or infection. Everyone should wear slippers or shoes in the hospital.
• Please keep your child’s room free of clutter that could cause someone to slip or trip.
• When using wagons, wheelchairs, stroller and infant swings, please make sure your child is properly secured.  Also, only adults should be moving a child in a wagon or stroller.

Patients who are admitted and connected to monitoring equipment, or who are being treated with invasive equipment, can be at an increased risk of electrical shock. Please follow these guidelines for patient-owned electrical equipment/devices that are being utilized within a 6-foot perimeter around the bed.

Acceptable items include:

• Cell phones, smart phones, iPods or other music players with headphones; iPads or other Android tablets, reading devices, such as a Kindle or Nook; laptop computers and hand-held gaming devices
• Items that are made of plastic or have a plastic case
• Items operated by a battery or power pack
• Electronics with a three-prong plug

Unacceptable items include:

• Christmas lights, lamps, curling irons, hair dryers, boom box, fans, toasters, crock pots, coffee makers
• Electronics with two-prong cords
• Items with a detachable cord that plugs directly into an outlet