The St. John’s Mercy Pediatric staff welcomes you. We understand that having a child in the hospital is stressful for every member of your family.

We are committed to giving your child the best quality care and making your child and your family as comfortable as possible.

In keeping with that commitment, we have compiled the following  information to make your stay with us more comfortable.

Patient’s Rights
Pediatric patients have the right to:

• Consistent, quality care that is supportive of both the child and the family.
• Care that respects their need to grow, play, and learn.
• Information that they can understand based on their age, language and developmental level.
• Be given opportunities to participate in making choices and decisions about their care.
• Respectful and courteous treatment from all members of the health care team.

Your Child’s Room
Most of our patient rooms are semi-private rooms, where two patients share a room and bathroom. Our few private rooms are generally reserved for those patients who cannot share a room due to the contagious nature of their illnesses.

Our most important criteria for the pairing of two patients in a room is their medical diagnoses. Please be assured that we would never pair patients together who would compromise the recovery of the other in any way. When we assign a patient to a room, we try to make sure the roommates are as compatible and as close in age as possible, so they have more in common with each other. Unless your child is a baby, he or she will be with a child of the same sex.

In times of high census there may be a need to move your child to a different room during your stay. We are doing this to avoid exposing your child and the other children to other diseases. We apologize ahead of time if this happens to you.

Televisions are available in each patient room. Please make sure that when you are watching TV programs, they are suitable for our pediatric patient population. We request that all TVs be turned off by 10 p.m.

Phone calls to family and friends are a very important part of any hospital stay. Dial 9 to get an outside number. We encourage you to make these calls prior to 10 p.m. In consideration of our patients and families, phone calls directly into patient rooms will be restricted after 10 p.m.

If you and your child are in a semi-private room without a roommate, we ask that you not sleep, sit, or place any items on the empty bed in the room. We frequently get admissions on very short notice, and having a nice, neat, clean room can expedite an admission process.

The wall in your room has a thermostat that you can adjust. There are four settings: high, medium, low and off. You will find the box flush with the wall. Push the door in and adjust the dial. In addition to the thermostat, there is a fan control in each window unit to circulate the air. Using both thermostat and fan control changes the room temperature. There is also a fan in every room, to give you control over your individual comfort. If you have questions or feel there is a problem, please do not hesitate to ask for assistance. We are concerned for your comfort.

Parents
As parents, you are your child’s best support. You know your child better than anyone else and he or she feels much more comfortable with you around. We encourage you to be active members of our caregiving team.

One parent is welcome to spend the night with your child. We provide cots and bedding for that purpose. Due to the small size of our rooms, however, we ask that just one parent at a time stays with the child in the room. Our night nurses need to have easy access to your child so they can provide the necessary care. If both parents wish to stay at the hospital, one parent is asked to stay in the Parent Lounge, just down the hall.

Brothers & Sisters
Children under 2 years old are especially susceptible to contagions found on our Pediatric floor because they have not yet built up an immunity against these various illnesses. Therefore, please do not bring children under 2 to visit. Siblings older than 2 are welcome to visit during regular visiting hours.

Our Staff
Besides the nurses and doctors on staff, many other members of the health care team will be assisting your child during his or her stay. Staff members from X-ray, respiratory therapy, laboratory, housekeeping, physical therapy and surgery are just a few of the many people your child may come in contact with during his or her stay at St. John’s Mercy. When a staff member comes to your child’s room, he or she will greet you and tell you what department he or she is from and the purpose of the visit. Please know that even though you may see many faces during your child’s hospitalization, we are all working together for the benefit of your child’s health.

Child Life Activities
Our Child Life department was designed to make your child’s stay in the hospital a little less stressful and a lot of fun. The Child Life staff provides what kids like best–fun and games, while striving to meet the psychological and social needs of your child.

One of our Child Life specialists will visit your child’s room during his or her stay. Our certified therapists will carefully assess the needs of each child and offer age-appropriate activities.

Individual medical play sessions are provided for the child who requires a better understanding of his or her illness and specific medical procedures. Through the use of medical anatomical dolls, games and books, your child’s questions and concerns are addressed.The playrooms are for the patients use only.

At St. John’s Mercy all of our IV fluids are placed on pumps. These pumps administer the exact amount of fluids that your child is prescribed. The IV pump runs on batteries for a little while but when your child is in his or her room, the IV pump should be plugged into the wall. Please feel free to “plug your child back in” after he or she has gone for a walk or to use the bathroom.

The IV pumps are programmed to administer fluids and medication and also to monitor the flow of the fluids and catch any sign of air in the tubing. When a medication is finished or there is something wrong with the administration of the IV fluids or medication, the IV pump will “beep.” This beeping is really an alarm telling us the pump needs attention. While the beeping is annoying, please do not push the buttons on the IV pump to silence the beeping. Let your child’s nurse know that the IV is beeping so that he or she can reprogram the machine or tend to any problem. This is for your child’s own safety.

Questions?
If you have any questions about your child’s health care, please feel free to ask your child’s nurse or doctor.

If we can make your family’s stay with us more comfortable, please let us know.





    

© 2008 St. John's Mercy Health Care
615 S. New Ballas Rd., St. Louis, Missouri, 63141