Videoconferencing to reduce stress among hospitalized children.

Objectives: Family-Link is a videoconferencing program that allows hospitalized children and their parents to virtually visit family members and friends using laptops, webcams, and a secure Wi-Fi connection. We evaluated the association of Family-Link use on the reduction in stress experienced by children during hospitalization.

Methods: We offered Family-Link to pediatric patients who had an expected length of hospitalization equal to or greater than 4 days.