What to Look for When Choosing a Children’s Hospital

This post is brought to you by The Motherhood and Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. All opinions are my own.

A couple months ago when I took my then 5 year-old son for surgery to repair an umbilical hernia he had developed at birth, I didn’t know what to expect. Even though the place came highly recommended, the thought of how much pain my son would need to endure terrified him (and even me as a parent).

But we had to make the long-awaited trip to ensure his healthy recovery. As daunting as it was to see my child in pain before and after the procedure, I could not imagine what the parents of the many other children we witnessed at the children’s hospital were experiencing. To have to undergo more serious procedures as an inpatient at such a young age is unfathomable.

No parent ever wants to think they will one day have to admit their child to the hospital for surgery or other medical care. But if they do, it helps to know what to look for when choosing the absolute best place to bring your child to ensure successful treatment and allay some of their many fears.

4 Key Factors for the Best Care at a Children’s Hospital

Patient- and family-centered care
One of the first things to keep in mind when choosing the best hospital for your child is a focus on patient- and family-centered care. Family-centered care is an approach to health care planning and delivery that emphasizes meaningful and productive partnerships among patients, families, and healthcare professionals across all aspects of care for children. This encourages active collaboration and shared decision-making between families and providers to create customized and comprehensive care, including emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial perspectives. Inviting families to participate, as full partners, in conversations and decisions about their children’s care helps patients and their families stay engaged and improves safety and quality of care.

Kid-Friendly Environment
Staying in a hospital can be frightening for many patients, especially children. Thus anything families can do to ensure their child’s hospital stay feels more like a home rather than a scary foreign place is key. Whether that be a fun, whimsical colorful space where children feel happy, children having the room and freedom to play and be a kid is imperative.

It’s equally important to choose a children’s hospital that will help to alleviate their fears and make their stay a little less daunting from the walk to the operating room to staff that are experienced to help children relax and feel at ease during their stay.

Innovative Technology
Having access to top-notch technology is another major consideration families should look for in a children’s hospital. When it comes to our children we want to be sure they have access to the best of the best, including sophisticated machines and equipment that will allow for complex procedures and have high success rates and technology that will help to improve patient safety and lead to a consistent experience.

Specialized Services
Along with innovative technology, parents need to be sure we have access to all the services sick children may potentially need, whether inpatient or outpatient. During their hospital stay children may require a variety of services including lab tests, surgical procedures, specialists, medications and more. It’s important to choose a hospital that will be able to meet the various needs your child’s condition will require.

One children’s hospital that fits all these characteristics and more is the new facility opening up at NYU Langone later in June — Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital.

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital is NYU Langone’s flagship pediatric inpatient care situated within the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion. What makes this facility stand apart? For starters, it’s the ONLY pediatric inpatient facility in Manhattan with all single-patient rooms, as well as the first new children’s hospital to open in NYC in 15 years!

But beyond those impressive stats, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital is a state-of-the-art facility designed to set the standard for hospitals across the country.

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital is Patient and Family Focused

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital is committed to advancing the practice of family-centered care through fostering excellent care, comfort, and wellbeing; engaging children and families as partners; and working as a team to eliminate preventable harm.

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital—34th Street was designed with input from the Youth Advisory Council and Family Advisory Council, made up of children who have undergone treatment at NYU Langone and their family members, and facilitated by the Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care. Its 68 single-patient rooms will help reduce the risk of infections and increase privacy for families. The rooms include sleeping space to accommodate guests overnight and a complimentary meal— so if your child must stay the night, moms or dads can comfortably accompany their child.

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital is Designed for Children

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital was created with one goal in mind — designing a space where children and their families feel safe and supported. With this in mind, the artwork throughout each floor focuses on a kid-friendly home-away from home theme — New York City through a child’s eyes. Visitors see this from the Lego replica of the Statue of Liberty in the lobby to the Central Park mural in the children’s surgical waiting area and the Rockefeller Center sculpture in the Children’s Center. The Children’s Center includes over 1,000 square feet of space to host music, dance and theatrical performances, family game and movie nights, a multi sensory playroom and even a children’s terrace to give both parents and children fresh air and sunlight.

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital Includes Advanced Inpatient & Outpatient Services

The facility includes pediatric inpatient and outpatient care, procedural and surgical services and numerous ambulatory services a child may require through the hospital stay from intensive care units to a cardiac catheterization lab and a bronchoscopy lab. Child life specialists help children relax and feel less overwhelmed by being in the hospital. These are scary procedures no one wants to think about, but it is alleviating to know the plethora of resources at your disposal if required.

Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital’s Top of the Line Technology

NYU Langone has given much consideration to the technologies they use to ensure a seamless workflow, increase staff efficiency, improve patient safety, and maximize awareness of patients’ needs. They’ve invested over $400 million into a variety of IT initiatives to improve patient care and experience over the last 7 years. From the robots that are programmed to transport meals, linens, medications and more throughout the Kimmel Pavilion to the Stryker iBedSystem that is integrated with electronic health records to document patient vitals and history, they have thoughtfully selected a suite of technologies to ensure the best outcomes for each patient.

As daunting as it may seem to think about all these things as you look for a treatment center for your child, making sure you find a children’s hospital that will keep your family’s core values in mind and be top of the line when it comes to the medical procedures and technology their specific condition entails, is key to finding the best possible treatment for your child. For those located in the NY metropolitan area, the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital is a no-brainer choice.

You can learn more about the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital here!