Visiting hours
Parents aren’t visitors; You’re welcome 24 hours a day. Other family members and friends of any age may visit from noon to 9 p.m. Please ask family and friends not to visit if they have a cold, flu or other contagious illness. Staff may restrict visitation when it is in the best interest of our patients.

Overnight guests
At Children’s Hospital, we understand the need for you to be close to your child while he or she is hospitalized. Because of our limited space, only one parent may stay overnight in the room of a child in the Pediatric Unit, Adolescent Unit or Pediatric ICU. A second family member 18 or older may stay overnight in one of our visitor lounges.

If you are staying in a nearby motel, the Ronald McDonald House or home, please provide your child’s nurse with the telephone number at which you may be reached. You are welcome to call during the night and speak with the nurse to get an update on your child’s condition:

Adolescent Unit: (573) 882-7691
Pediatric Unit: (573) 882-2281
Pediatric ICU: (573) 882-2941

The seventh floor visitor lounge is reserved for the families of pediatric patients. Showers are available in 7E-55 and 6E-51. Linens are provided. All overnight guests in the visitor lounge must be 18 or older. Please check with the unit nurse supervisor to determine if you are eligible to stay overnight.

For your health and safety
To promote your safety and the safety of staff members and patients, we ask that you do not obstruct lights, use electrical appliances or sleep on window sills in a visitor lounge. For health considerations, no personal linens are permitted. Because this is a public facility, we cannot be responsible for your personal belongings. Please store your belongings in your vehicle and do not leave personal valuables unattended in a lounge.

Food and beverage storage and cooking are not allowed in visitor lounges.

Ronald McDonald House Family Room
The Ronald McDonald House Family Room is located in Room C7001. This special place is intended for use by families of all patients in Children’s Hospital. It is a restful place where you can spend time away from the hospital’s busy atmosphere. The Family Room, which is staffed by volunteers, offers showers, a kitchen area with snack foods, seating areas to relax and visit, and games and toys to help entertain siblings.

Nutrition
It’s important for children to have good nutrition and their favorite foods, especially when they are in the hospital. Children can pick the foods they like best from a menu given out each morning. Please mark the menu as soon as possible so that it will be ready for pick-up by Dietary staff. They will help you make choices if needed. We may change the menu if your doctor has ordered a special diet. We may hold a meal if your child is going to have a special test. If you have questions or concerns about your child’s diet, please ask your nurse to contact a dietician.

• Infant formulas, baby food, milk and juices are available in the Nourishment Room (7E).
• If your child does not like his meal, please let your nurse know. We can order kid-friendly food to meet your child’s needs.
• The Adolescent Unit has special snacks available that have been selected by teens as their favorites. Ask your nurse for assistance.

For all Children’s Hospital units:
Refrigerators are available on the patient care units stocked with beverages and snacks for our patients. In order to meet state health regulations, only food delivered by the Dietary Department can be stored in these refrigerators.

Snack carts come to the unit each afternoon, and parents may select a snack for their child.

Child Life Program
For a child, the hospital can be a scary place full of strange sights, sounds and smells as well as unfamiliar people. The Child Life Program specialists help to reduce these fears and create a positive healing experience for pediatric and adolescent patients.

• Child Life specialists are specifically trained and certified to address the emotional needs of hospitalized children and adolescents and to help them understand their hospital experience.
• Child Life specialists encourage children to participate in normal play activities. They support children and teens during procedures by teaching simple coping strategies. They offer support to families to help children cope with hospitalization.

For more information on the Child Life Program, ask your nurse to page a Child Life specialist.

School program
Because education is of major importance in the life of a child, Children’s Hospital and Columbia Public Schools provide a full-time, certified K-12 Special Education teacher. The Children’s Hospital teacher works with parents, teachers back home and the health care team to complete school assignments.

Pediatric Playroom and Adolescent Activity Room
These rooms are to remain a "safe place" for children at all times. No painful procedures, treatments or examinations that are upsetting to the child or other children are allowed in these rooms.

Conversations containing adult subject matter or patient information are to take place outside of these rooms, which are for Children’s Hospital patients ONLY! (See below for information about siblings.)

All toys and games are provided by the Children’s Miracle Network and other charitable organizations for the use of Children’s Hospital patients and their families. All games and toys may be taken to patient rooms, but are not permitted to leave the units without permission of the Child Life staff. Movie carts and video games on each unit are to be checked out and taken back to patient rooms. Please check with staff for availability.

No patient with a temperature, draining wounds, vomiting or diarrhea, or who is suspected to have a communicable disease, will be allowed in the playroom or activity room. Please check with your nurse for permission.

Pediatric Playroom (7 East, Room 58)

• Playroom schedule is posted in all patient rooms and on playroom doors.
• Playroom is for patients only. Siblings may take toys from the playroom back to the patient’s room during their visits.
• All patients in the playroom must be supervised by an adult. Please check with Child Life staff or a volunteer before leaving your child in a playroom. A volunteer may be available to provide parents with a break.
• Please place toys in the dirty toy bin after use either in the playroom or at bedside.
• Movies are provided for you and your family. All movies are rated G or PG, and only two movies may be checked out at a time.
• If at any time you need a nurse, please use the call buttons located in the playroom.

Adolescent Activity Room (6 East, Room 43)

• The room is open until curfew, which is 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday.
• Siblings and visitors 13 or older are allowed to use the activity room but need to stay with the patient they are visiting. Please remember the crafts and activities are for patients only. Patients have first priority on the video games and computer.
• Movies are provided for use in the room or at bedside. Only movies rated G, PG or PG-13 are allowed.
• Everyone in the activity room is expected to be on his or her best behavior. No obscene language, music or materials, physical or verbal abuse, or destruction or property are allowed.
• A computer for patients provides games and Internet access. Access to the Internet is filtered through a program called CyberSitter.
• Everyone is expected to clean up after himself or herself.
• No food is allowed in the activity room.

Patient Family Advisory Council
University of Missouri Health Care is recruiting patients, family members, friends as well as MU Health Care physicians and staff to participate on the Patient Family Advisory Council. The mission/vision of the Council is "Patients and families partnering with staff to advise and promote patient- and family-centered care."