How Avera Helps Kids Feel Comfortable During Hospital Stays

There’s a lot to manage with a child’s hospital stay for both caregivers and patients.

From the Avera Children’s Hospital at Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center to pediatric care programs across the health system’s service area, patients just weeks old to those who are 18 get care – and comfort.

“We do all we can to meet the family where they are,” said Twila Perkinson, a Certified Child Life Specialist at Avera Children’s Hospital. “Our focus is to meet the needs of patients and parents.”

This approach is the bedrock of Avera health care; every hospital where kids get care includes methods to make sure those young patients are reassured.

Kindness for Kids in Peds Units Around the Midwest

Avera pediatrics specialists may treat a 4-year-old with RSV in the morning and a 15-year-old admitted for surgery that afternoon. Intensive care units, including neonatal and pediatric ICUs, help children who need critical care. Pediatric teams cover any and all other patients 18 and younger.

“We meet with patients but also with parents,” said Nicole Poppinga, MD, a pediatrics hospitalist at Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center. As a doctor who has worked at Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre, and often helps her pediatric colleagues system-wide, she said pediatric patients get the best care – regardless of location.

Avera understands the need for comfort for kids, equipping hospitals with right-sized beds, masks that fit small faces and playrooms and toys to help children keep calm.

“We use clear language and provide optimal care as close to home as possible,” she said. “Each regional site can provide care up to critical levels.”

A gentle philosophy helps all kids, even if they need surgery, IVs or MRIs, all things that could make anyone nervous. “I remind parents it’s OK to ask if you’re not sure about something,” Perkinson said.

How Hospitals Help Kids with Longer Stays and Medical Challenges

Avera McKennan, the health system’s flagship children’s hospital, provides the highest level of specialty care for patients who may be coming from hundreds of miles away. The hospital has many methods to help a hospital stay feel less scary, including a Child Life Education team that works with parents to answer questions and provide guidance.

The hospital is growing its specialty care team and expanding its children’s hospital and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This puts Avera in a unique position to create a hospital based on parents’ and children’s needs and expand on what’s already in place.

Some methods used include:

• For imaging such as MRI, sedation or music help kids remain still or relax.
• Beds that are “right sized” so kids feel more at ease.
• Kid-sized masks that make breathing treatments more comfortable.
• Supplemental oxygen, with its tape and tubes, can be tough but registered nurses in peds are great at finding the best ways without causing pain or irritation.
• Topical creams, reward stickers and lighting arrays to make IVs and injections easier.
• Racecar-shaped gurneys to help with transport to and from surgeries.

Additionally, child life educators are on hand to make treatments less scary for patients who may be far from home, too.

“We’ll do all we can to keep caregivers informed. It helps ensure the best care,” said Perkinson. “This is something every Avera peds unit understands. We’re hoping to collaborate with caregivers while we comfort the child.”

Caregivers may need help with other things outside the hospital, such as:

• Arranging rides for other children at school/day care
• Taking time off work
• Contacting extended family, teachers and schools know

“Pediatrics is specialized care and we recognize individual differences,” Perkinson said. “Working together with patients and family, our hospital staff provides support and compassion that Avera is well known for.”

Learn More

• Avera children’s services and specialty care
• Avera’s expansion of services for women and children