Visiting Penn State Health Children’s Hospital involves special rules and unique circumstances. We encourage you to prepare, so you can better help the patient heal.

Visiting children in the hospital

Your actions while visiting the Children’s Hospital are important to helping your loved one get healthy. Here are some ways you can be prepared for your visit and make a child’s stay at the Children’s Hospital better.

Before you arrive

• View our COVID-19 guidelines.
• Check visiting hours and bring photo identification when you check in at one of our two information desks, located in the Children’s Hospital or Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
• Provide accurate spelling of the child’s first and last name.
• Familiarize yourself with Children’s Hospital policies guidelines and security measures.
• Talk with the patient’s parents about the best way to discuss the child’s illness with the child. Review our tips for helping children adjust to hospital stays and procedures.
• Check with parents or nursing staff about special rules for visiting in critical care areas and how many visitors are allowed in a patient’s room at one time.

At the Children’s Hospital

• Please respect our Quiet Hours in the Children’s Hospital from 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. daily and in the evenings from 9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. During these times, we lower the lights, close doors to patient rooms, and ask everyone to lower their voices.
• Give patients, families, and the health care team privacy when it’s needed or requested. We offer a number of areas for you to pass the time while you wait.