Preparing Your Child for Hospitalization

Effective preparation for hospitalization can reduce the anxiety children experience prior to surgery. Professionals at The Children's Heart Center recommend that parents begin preparing their children for surgery one day per every year of the child's life before hospitalization. For example, if the child is 5 years old, parents can begin explanation 5 days in advance of the scheduled surgery. Simple, yet honest and accurate answers to your child's questions will help him/her adopt a positive attitude about the upcoming surgery. Preoperative videos and coloring books are helpful tools for introducing hospitalization to young children and are available upon request.

Child life specialists are important members of the health care team at Children's Hospital of New Jersey. An extensive Child Life Program offers youngsters developmentally appropriate play therapy, as well as variety of stimulating games and activities that promote their continued development during hospitalization.

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