Leaving the Hospital

Your child’s doctor will let you know when your child is ready for discharge, but the medical team will be planning your child’s discharge with you from the first day he or she is admitted.

Discuss with the team what your child’s possible date of discharge is. You may know the evening before or the morning of discharge. Please make arrangements with a family member or friend to help you when it is time to go home. Depending on your child’s needs, the discharge time may vary.

Our goal for your child is to be discharged by 11 am. If you need a ride home, please notify your child’s nurse, social worker or care manager.

Your child’s healthcare team will visit you to review the discharge plan and make any changes to your child’s medications. Your child’s discharge nurse will go over all discharge information with you.

We recommend that you have someone with you to also listen to those instructions. Please do not pack any hospital supplies, such as towels or linens. If you are in doubt about items that you can take home, please ask your child’s nurse. You and your child will need to be escorted by a staff member to the main entrance of the hospital.

After the discharge orders are written by your child’s doctor, the nurse will explain the aftercare needed and any instructions to follow, as well as review your child’s medicines, including any signs to look out for at home. The nurse will also verify that your child’s prescriptions for medicines were sent to the correct pharmacy. If you have questions about your child’s diet, activities or other matters, please ask.

Be sure to take all of your personal belongings with you, including anything you may have put into the safe in your room.

We want to make the transition from hospital to home a safe one for your child. Please do not leave unless you have received your copies of your child’s discharge information.

MyHealtheLife, our secure patient portal, has all the information that was reviewed with you online. If you did not sign up for the portal, talk to your child’s discharge nurse who can sign your child up before you leave.

New York State has mandated that all prescriptions be sent to pharmacies electronically. We will no longer give you a paper prescription for medicines for your child. Please be sure that your child’s healthcare team has the correct information about your pharmacy.

On the day you know that your child is going home, please collect all of your child’s belongings and double-check closets and drawers.

Were any of your valuables (wallet,  jewelry, etc.) stored in a hospital safe? If so, please visit the Cashier’s Office or call (631) 444-2880 before you and your child leave to make arrangements to retrieve your belongings.

When you are ready to leave, a member of the hospital staff will often escort you and your child to the front entrance and help you into your car.