Proper validation and being empathically responsive and present may help to provide emotional support to hospitalized children. Professor Leslie Greenberg and his colleagues have been extensively working on how to perform these tasks. I would suggest the book Emotion-Focused Therapy: Coaching Clients to Work Through Their Feelings (Greenberg, 2002), as it is rich in detail on how one goes about it. If I recall correctly, near the last pages there are some specific suggestions on how to deal with children.