Your child in hospital

The Children's Hospital at Westmead is committed to providing the best possible care for children. We welcome you and your family to the Hospital and hope the information presented here will help make your stay a comfortable one.

The Hospital's 2005 Handbook provides essential information for parents and families attending the Hospital.

Table of Contents

How to use this booklet More than just a Hospital How to find us Important issues Compliments, suggestions or complaints A few extra things to remember Using your private health insurance Rights & responsibilities for patients & families Your child's health care team The medical team The nursing team Allied health professionals Your child's health care team working together What to tell your child about coming to Hospital What you will need to bring

Admission to The Children's Hospital at Westmead Surgery Anaesthesia Recovery ward Life on the ward Accommodation for parents Alternate accommodation for parents* Activities for kids while in hospital Discharge, when it's time to go home General Hospital information Staff who are here to help Hospital facilities Places to eat Important numbers Interpreters table Index

Translations

The handbook has also been translated into a range of language, and is currently available in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Turkish and Vietnamese. All translations are in Adobe Acrobat Format.

(*) Not included as part of the handbook.

You will require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 6.0 or higher) to read or print the Admissions Guide.

Please note: if you receive the message "You have started to download a file of type ... PDF" (or similar) after clicking the above link, then your Adobe Acrobat plug-in is not correctly installed.

It is recommended that you select the "Fit to Page" option (also known as "Shrink to Fit") when printing.

Preparing your child for a hospital stay

A hospital visit or stay may be quite overwhelming for your child. There are a number of ways in which you can help make the experience less daunting.

To help prepare yourself and your child for a visit or stay at our hospital some important information is presented under the following topic areas:

• Preparing yourself and your child for a hospital visit
• Helping your child during a hospital stay
• What you can do to help siblings cope with their brother/sister's hospital stay
• Coming home from a hospital visit

We hope that you find this a useful reference. Remember that preparation, support and love will help your child face new situations with confidence.

Preparing your child for a hospital stay: Brochure
Preparing your child for a hospital stay: Poster