Some illnesses require hospitalization. Such a need may arise in relation to patients of any age. The stay of a child in the hospital is associated with a number of issues. Indeed, for children, a hospital is a frightening and unfamiliar place where they will have to spend several days, and maybe even weeks. Let's try to figure out what should be the care of a child in a hospital, what conditions you need to create for your offspring for a speedy recovery. How to behave as parents and what not to do under any circumstances.
Staying in the hospital for children of different ages
There are general guidelines for parents to help them find the right approach to treating their children in the inpatient department. The mode of stay of the child in the hospital depends primarily on his age. That is why juvenile patients are conditionally divided into four groups:
- newborns and toddlers under three;
- preschool childrenage;
- schoolchildren under 13;
- teenagers.
Recommendations for parents of the youngest patients
This category includes babies no older than three years. If such a small child is admitted to the hospital, the presence of mom or dad next to him is mandatory. In this case, the parent or legal representative of the baby will have to be responsible to the doctors. Being in a hospital does not affect the psycho-emotional state of infants and toddlers in any way. They easily adapt to a new environment due to the presence of a loved one next to them.
In the current situation, it will be much more difficult for the parent. Hospital life is very different from home life. In a children's hospital, children are patients, and mothers, fathers, grandmothers or guardians only accompany them. If a child is admitted to a hospital, this, unfortunately, does not mean that there are conditions for an adult to stay there. You need to be prepared in advance for the lack of a bed, food, shower and other inconveniences.
When a child is hospitalized no older than one year old, a bed is allocated, and a separate bed for the parent. There are also situations when a mother gives birth to a child in a hospital and immediately after the maternity hospital, the baby is sent to the neonatal pathology department, for example, to treat jaundice. In this case, the presence of the mother in the ward is discussed individually. A woman can spend the night in the mother's room, and during the day be next to the child's incubator. The option of day duty at the baby's crib and home overnight is possible. If areathe ward allows, a couch can be placed for the mother, which will make it possible to stay with the child around the clock.
A parent should try to maintain normal relations with roommates, medical staff, and the attending physician - this will be a kind of guarantee of help and support in any difficult situation. In addition, it is necessary to observe the regime of the medical institution, accustom the child to the daily routine. In the hospital, everything happens according to the schedule and certain rules, which are desirable to follow from the moment they enter the department - so it will be easier for the baby to get used to the new environment.
What things to take for the baby
First of all, these are diapers. You don't need to bring huge packages with you. When going to the ward and folding your bag, prepare a supply of diapers for a few days, a maximum of a week. If this is not enough, you can buy them at the nearest pharmacy kiosk, which are usually located at hospitals.
Preparing baby bottles, nipples, milk formula is necessary for those mothers whose babies are bottle-fed. In most children's departments, infants are provided with food prepared in a dairy kitchen. However, the mixture is supposed to be for babies up to a year; it is not provided for older children. It is better to take your packaging in case you feed your child not with the usual Malyutka porridge, but, for example, with more expensive hypoallergenic mixtures.
And, of course, diapers. This is a mandatory attribute for children of this age, which should always be instock. Even if you use diapers, a pair of flannel and calico diapers will not interfere with the arrangement in the ward. They can fill the crib, use instead of bedspreads and lay under the baby's feet while planting on the potty. In addition, changing a diaper under a feverish child is much easier than a huge sheet.
What a child of any age can do without
Children stay in the hospital from several days to several weeks, so first of all, you need to take care of a change of clothes. If the treatment takes place in the cold season, then, in addition to light T-shirts, pants, tights, undershirts, underwear, you should definitely take a warm set of clothes. The most convenient option for a hospital is a sports suit. In it, it will be convenient for a child to go to procedures, go out into the corridor while a quartz lamp is working in the ward, or meet relatives in the vestibule. For little ones, be sure to take a hat (for example, a light flannelette hat) or a jacket with a hood. Also, every child who already knows how to walk needs indoor shoes. It must be sandals or slippers with washable soles.
Another indispensable item that every child in the hospital will find useful is wet wipes. With their help, you can fix a lot of minor troubles or wipe them with a child in the absence of the opportunity to take a shower. In addition to napkins, be sure to take care of liquid soap for washing hands. This is especially important if the child was placed in an infectious diseases hospital: a liquid detergent, unlike a lumpy one, helps to avoidcontact with other patients and roommates. The second option is more suitable for washing things. Do not forget about other personal hygiene items (toothbrush, comb, etc.) and personal towels - a couple of small pieces will be enough.
In some medical facilities, patients are required to have their own plates, forks, spoons, mugs. As for drinking, in stationary departments, patients are provided with boiled water. Often the sight and smell of such water is impressive, so many parents who have been in hospitals with their children are advised to stock up on filtered drinking water.
And, of course, the “essential” necessities that no young child can do without are toys. They will help distract the baby during procedures that are unpleasant for him, injections, droppers, etc. Only those products that are subject to disinfection can be taken to the inpatient department. Soft toys are not allowed in the hospital.
Can a parent be in a hospital with a preschooler
This group includes children from three to seven years old. Usually they are not yet able to serve themselves on their own. In accordance with the legislation on the protection of the he alth of citizens in the Russian Federation, a small patient up to four years old is guaranteed the presence of a parent. According to the regulations, the medical institution is obliged to unconditionally provide the mother or other legal representative of the child with a full-fledged bed with bed linen and three meals a day, which is paid by the CHI fund.
Toconstantly be near a child who is over 4 years old, there must be special medical indications. The basis for joint hospitalization is the decision of the treating doctor, which he takes at his own discretion. If the doctor believes that the presence of a parent is not necessary, then mom or dad will have no choice but to write a statement addressed to the head physician of the hospital and give his arguments in it why cohabitation is necessary (for example, persistent fever, frequent bouts of vomiting in a child, etc. d.). If this does not help, you should call the hotline of the Department of He alth of the region or the central Ministry, contact the insurer company that issued the compulsory medical insurance policy, or write a complaint to the prosecutor's office.
In each region of the Russian Federation, municipalities are vested with certain powers, so they have the right to expand guarantees for parents with children. For example, in some subjects, joint hospitalization is allowed not up to four, but up to five or six years of age. You can find out about the conditions for adults to stay in hospitals in a particular region at the insurance company that issued the CHI policy.
What should I do if my child is not allowed?
In this case, children have to adapt quickly and learn a lot without parental support. Whenever possible, parents try to find a "watcher" for their child. This role can be entrusted to a teenager or a parent of another child lying in the ward, of course, with their consent. After exchanging contact details with a temporary "watcher", momcan be calm, because in any extraordinary situation they will definitely contact her.
Be sure to check with the doctor what the child needs in the hospital. It is better to come to your offspring during the visiting hours of the attending doctor in order to receive first-hand information about the treatment of the child. Unlike older children, kindergarteners are not yet able to accurately retell the recommendations of a specialist, and the medical staff may not know the answers to their questions at all. However, this does not mean that you should not maintain a good relationship with nurses. They also take part in the treatment and communication with young patients, so you can always try to ask them about how your child is doing.
Child in hospital without parents
In this case, we are talking, as a rule, about schoolchildren older than seven years. At this age, children are relatively independent, but they are not yet able to take care of themselves to the end. Mom needs to take care of the things of her sick child. Despite the fact that patients in this age group seem quite responsible and serious, in reality they are still frivolous and careless. Nurses tend not to supervise schoolchildren, as they pay more attention to babies.
In addition, at this age, children may already show interest in their disease, so do not remain silent when a child asks questions about what is happening to him, when he will recover, etc. This can scare a small patient, and children, as you know, tend to dramatize the situation. You should answer all his questions in simple and accessible phrases, which will allow him to be aware of the situation and become more confident.
Unlike schoolchildren up to 12-13 years old, teenagers are quite independent and adult individuals. If a child is hospitalized, parents need more psychological support. Usually, there are no problems with the stay of adolescents in the inpatient department if parents bring them the necessary medicines, clothes, clean linen, take away unnecessary or dirty things. At this age, children tolerate hospitalization normally, so parents can be given the following recommendations:
- Don't panic. You should not wind yourself up once again and worry about every trifle, turning the treatment of your offspring into a real tragedy.
- Keep a low profile. Do not distract doctors from treatment, visit the child only during visiting hours.
- Set up your child for successful treatment and a favorable outcome. To feel confident, the child must see the parents' calm reaction to what is happening and receive adequate and useful advice from them.
What documents and things does mom need
Preparation for treatment in a hospital is necessary not only for children, but also for their accompanying parents. First of all, mothers collect a bag for a child in the hospital, but often, from tears and worries, they completely forget about the most elementary things for themselves.
To begin with, you should take care of the results of the last fluorographic study - it should be on hand. If during the last year you have notpassed this procedure, it will be obligated to do. In order not to waste time on trips to the clinic at the place of residence, you can try to arrange to take a picture in the X-ray room of this medical institution, possibly for a fee. If a mother has to go to the hospital with her children, she may also need a fresh test result for enterobiasis.
Hurrying going to the hospital, it is important to foresee all the nuances not only for a comfortable stay in the hospital of the child, but also not to forget about yourself. In addition to the passport and the above test results, mom or dad will need:
- mobile phone charger to always be in touch with relatives;
- toothbrush, paste and other hygiene items;
- comb;
- intimate wipes;
- towel (if not available, flannel diapers can be used);
- changeable shoes (preferably slates, sandals, or other kind of shoes that can get wet);
- Clothes and bed linen (A gown will be comfortable for daytime hospital stays and pajamas for nighttime stays.)
It is possible that already in the first days, after the completion of organizational issues and the preparation of a treatment plan, the parent will have some free time. To use it to your advantage, take a book, crosswords, tablet or music player with headphones with you to the hospital. In addition, the stay of parents with a child in the hospital gives them the right to receive a sick leave. For its registration you will needpersonal medical policy.
What kind of food can I take with me to the children's hospital?
Public institutions do not welcome bringing food with them, especially sweets, fatty and s alty foods, chips, chocolate, carbonated drinks, but still every mother wants to pamper a sick child and secretly gives forbidden food to the child in the hospital. And yet you shouldn't do that. Before reproaching a child with food not prepared in the walls of the hospital, it is advisable to consult with your doctor. You need to be especially careful with allergens, because during the period of illness the baby's body weakens, his immunity can give an unpredictable reaction even to familiar products that were previously tolerated without problems.
Under the strictest ban is:
- baking;
- chocolate;
- sweet curds;
- dishes of fatty meats;
- mushrooms;
- nuts;
- honey;
- citrus;
- strawberry;
- greenhouse vegetables.
It is undesirable to overfeed a sick child in the hospital, because his body needs strength to fight the disease, and not to digest a large amount of food. It is better to focus on drinking plenty of water, and as a snack between meals, you can give the baby a banana or a glass of low-fat kefir.
Features of parents staying in the hospital with their children
According to doctors and medical staff, mothers with a child in the hospital often refuse to comply with the disciplinary rules of the institution. In addition, parents, without knowing it themselves, often interfere with a full-fledgedtreatment, and in some situations, harm the he alth of their own children. In medical practice, there have been cases that ended in a tragic outcome due to non-compliance with doctor's prescriptions and prescriptions. Following the recommendations of a specialist is an important condition for the recovery of a child, but if you think that the doctor is not competent enough, it is better to consult other doctors or contact the medical insurance organization that issued the medical insurance policy.
We should not forget that excessive activity and increased attention of a parent to their child during joint hospitalization can become an unfavorable psychotraumatic factor for other children in the general ward who stay in the hospital on their own or their relatives rarely visit them.
The reason for most conflict situations that arise between parents and medical staff is the lack of legislative regulation of a number of important issues. For example, a regulatory document has not yet been adopted that would regulate the rules and conditions for access of patients' relatives to the intensive care unit, would establish strict rules for visiting infectious diseases institutions and medical indications for the joint stay of adults with children. It is not difficult to put a child in a hospital, but so far not a single budgetary institution is able to provide him with comfortable conditions and full-fledged care without the participation of parents. It is imperative that the authorities improve the regulatory framework and develop the missing documents, the appearance of which will allowsolve a lot of problems, avoid disputes, unfounded claims against doctors and hassle for parents of little patients.
Infectious ward
Unfriendly associations with infectious diseases hospitals are primarily associated with the fear of contracting a disease. However, if you follow the basic rules of hygiene and caution, the chances of infection with an ailment that easily moves through the air are negligible. These illnesses include measles, rubella and chickenpox, which are usually treated at home or in a children's hospital isolation room.
For children, however, as for adults, infectious diseases medical facilities are divided into two types, depending on the method of probable infection. In one department there are patients who were infected by airborne droplets, in the second - by the fecal-oral route. Children with severe acute respiratory viral infections, diphtheria, whooping cough, scarlet fever, tonsillitis, meningitis of bacterial etiology are in the infectious diseases hospital, and with dysentery, salmonellosis, and viral hepatitis in the intestinal department. In both cases, infection is possible only in case of close contact with the sick person.
Often there are reviews in which parents talk about the fact that a child after a hospital specializing in the treatment of infectious diseases has a long recovery time. It is not uncommon for children to go to the hospital, for example, with the flu, and after a while they also become infected with an intestinal infection. However, it is important to understand that medical staff never knowingly place patients withdifferent types of infectious diseases.
Infection usually occurs for the following reasons:
- lack of elementary discipline in the inpatient department;
- infection from outside (for example, by visitors);
- undeveloped hygiene skills in a child.
It should be understood that the hospitalization of a child with an infectious disease is a mandatory measure. The thing is that the manifestations of such an ailment can change several times during the day, which requires an appropriate correction of the treatment program. There is nothing surprising in the fact that when diagnosing an infectious disease, the district pediatrician gives a referral to the infectious diseases hospital, and does not treat himself. At home, it is impossible to monitor the course of the disease and take urgent measures if the child's he alth changes, so you should not neglect the referral to the hospital.
What to advise parents
For starters, it is important for mothers and fathers who find themselves in inpatient departments with their offspring to understand that the main thing in the hospital is the doctor. There is no need to challenge the actions of the medical staff, especially if you do not have a specialized education. Doubt the correctness of the decisions made by a specialist? Consult with another doctor, but do not interfere in the treatment process just because you think the doctor is doing something wrong.
You should not insist on your presence during treatment procedures. Often, children who are treated alone withmedical staff behave much more calmly. If the nurses do not invite the parent to attend, then this would be inappropriate and, on the contrary, would interfere with the treatment process.
Usually parents have a lot of questions they want to ask the doctor and nursing staff. However, not all mothers and fathers know how to ask them correctly, so it is advisable to write them on a piece of paper in advance. When communicating with a doctor, remember to be polite. In difficult situations, when feelings and emotions take over, anxious parents can behave aggressively, demanding the impossible from doctors - an urgent diagnosis or prognosis. Doctors usually try to minimize communication with anxious parents.
Remember to pay attention to older children, especially if they are alone in the hospital. A child after treatment in a hospital without a mother becomes more independent and collected - this is a fact, but still the process cannot be left to chance. Always discuss with him on the phone and in person how his day went, but do not rush to panic if something in his answers does not suit you. Children at any age interpret many things incorrectly, distort the facts. Do not rush to make claims to the medical staff or doctor, but first sort out the current situation.
