Your hospital stay: resources and amenities
Welcome to Children’s Minnesota. This guide offers information about resources and amenities available during your child’s hospital stay.
Questions while you are here
Ask your child’s care team if you have any questions. We are partners in your child’s care.
Welcome centers are located on the first and second floors of the Minneapolis and St. Paul hospitals. You can also dial “0” from any hospital phone to reach the Welcome Center team.
Dial “0” from any hospital phone to be connected to the Welcome Center.
Interpreter services
Interpreters are available 24 hours a day and are free of charge. Ask your child’s care team for an interpreter.
Parking and security
- Parking, parking discounts, maps and driving directions
- Security escort: Children’s Minnesota promotes a safe and welcoming environment for patients and families. Security is available to escort you between the hospital and parking facilities 24 hours a day. To request a security escort, call 612-813-7777.
Family and visitor information
View our hospital visiting standards and health guidelines for the most up-to-date information.
Visitor hours: Parents/legal guardians are welcome to visit at all times. All others can visit between 8 a.m.-9 p.m. (if they have the visitor code set by the parent/legal guardian).
Visitor badge: For safety, everyone must wear a visitor badge while in the hospital (including parents/legal guardians).
- Go to the Welcome Center to get a visitor badge. You will need to show a photo ID (driver’s license, state ID, etc.)
- You need a new visitor badge each day you visit.
Visitor code: For safety, parents/legal guardians must set up a visitor code. This is how we know who is allowed to visit a patient in the hospital.
- You can share your code with family and friends who you want to be able to visit your child.
- Only those who know the code when they check in at the Welcome Center will be allowed to enter the hospital patient care areas.
Food
Our Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses have several options for food.
Minneapolis campus
St. Paul campus
Where to stay
Whether your hospital visit was planned or unplanned, your family may need somewhere to stay at or near our Minneapolis or St. Paul campuses.
On-campus
- Parents/legal guardians are welcome to stay overnight in your child’s room.
- Ronald McDonald House – Minneapolis: For overnight arrangements, contact your child’s unit social worker for eligibility and availability.
- Ronald McDonald Family Room – St. Paul: For overnight arrangements, contact your child’s unit social worker for eligibility and availability.
Off-campus
On-campus services and amenities
- Family resource centers are a comfortable, welcoming place where helpful staff can connect you to services and amenities during your stay at Children’s Minnesota.
- Financial counseling
- Gift store
- Pharmacy
- Private pumping and breastfeeding pods
- Minneapolis campus: Hospital, floor 1 (near the emergency department) and Atrium, floor 1 (across from the Tower elevators)
- St. Paul campus: Sky Tower, floor 3 (near the Surgery Center) and Garden View Tower, floor 2 (near the Welcome Center)
- Spiritual care and interfaith chapels
- Play, gaming or relaxation areas
- Minneapolis campus: Sibling Play Area, healing garden
- St. Paul campus: Child Life Zone, Minnesota Wild Teen Room, CHA Storyland Garden
- Children’s Minnesota Book Nooks
- Technology help from Geek Squad®
- Star Studio
- Volunteer support: Volunteers at Children’s Minnesota are available to spend time and play with your child. Volunteers round on units to see where they are needed. You can also ask your nurse if you would like a volunteer to come to your child’s room.
- Interpreter services
- Child life
- Music therapy
- Social work
Access to medical records
MyChildren’s: MyChildren’s is an online resource offered by Children’s Minnesota to give you secure access to parts of your child’s medical record, including immediate access to lab results, immunizations and more.
Partnering in your child’s care: resources and information
Keeping your child safe: To help us keep your child safe while at Children’s Minnesota, we need you to:
- Wash your hands to prevent infection.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with your arm/elbow, not with your hand.
- Keep your child’s ID band on. All patients must wear an ID band at all times. It has important information, including your child’s name, birth date and medical record number.
- Keep side rails up on your child’s bed or crib. Make sure they are latched. Chances of falling out of bed increase when children are sick, taking medicine, or are in an unfamiliar place and in an unknown bed. Ask a staff member to show you how the rails and latch work.
- If your child needs help to go to the bathroom, use the nurse call button.
- If your child can get out of bed, please watch closely and be close by.
- Keep the area around your child’s bed or crib clear of clutter so staff can reach your child, equipment and computer.
- Anytime your child is lying in one spot for a while, they can develop a pressure sore. If your child will be lying in one spot for a while, remove barrettes, hair beads and hair binders.
- For safety, your child can not leave their room without asking the nurse first.
What should I do if my child’s monitor is beeping? If your child’s monitor beeps, it’s an important signal for our team to check on them. Please allow the alarm to sound. If your nurse is not there quickly, use the nurse call button.
Care conferences: Care conferences are collaborative meetings with your child’s care team, including family, nurses, doctors and any other medical or non-medical professionals. You can request one anytime by contacting a social worker. Prepare questions beforehand with the social worker to ensure the right team members attend.
Rapid Response Team: If you have concerns about your child’s condition or care, first speak with your nurse or doctor. If you are still concerned, call the Rapid Response Team at 4-3535 (room phone) or 952-931-3535; they are a medical emergency team and will arrive in about 15 minutes.
Bring it Bedside: Families are part of the care team. We encourage you to join Bring it Bedside, a nurse-to-nurse information sharing that occurs in the patient room at shift change times. Common shift change times are 7 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Ask your nurse for more information.
- Journey to Home: At Children’s Minnesota, we care about making your hospital stay less stressful. Our “Journey to Home” checklist is a helpful tool for you and your health care team to track everything you need to know before going home. Ask your nurse for more information.
- Patient family education materials
- Families as Partners program
- Family Advisory Council’s For Families From Families Resource Guide
Patient and family rights
At Children’s Minnesota, all patients, their families, friends and support persons should be treated with respect, understanding and compassion. Find information about:
