ANESTHESIA IN PEDIATRICS  SMART 2002 Milan, May 29-31, 2002 Free

Minerva Anestesiologica 2002 May;68(5):396-401

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Preparation, premedication and parental presence

Bortone L., Picetti E.

Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria - Parma I Servizio di Anestesia e Rianimazione

40% to 60% of chil­dren under­go­ing sur­gery ­under gen­er­al anaesthe­sia devel­op anx­ie­ty in the pre­op­er­a­tive peri­od. Mul­ti­ple fac­tors con­trib­ute to the gen­e­sis of ­this dis­or­der. Pre­op­er­a­tive anx­ie­ty may com­pli­cate the induc­tion of anaesthe­sia and can ­cause behav­i­ou­ral mod­ifi­ca­tions in chil­dren ­even ­long ­after sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dures ­have ­been com­plet­ed. It is impor­tant to ­focus on pre­ven­tion of ­such prob­lems. A prep­ar­a­tion pro­gram, pre­med­i­ca­tion and paren­tal pres­ence dur­ing induc­tion of anaesthe­sia are val­id ­tools for achiev­ing ­this ­goal. We are here­with pre­sent­ing a ­play prep­ar­a­tion pro­gram car­ried out by ­play spe­cial­ists and ­offered to all chil­dren ­prior to sur­gery. ­This ­approach ­proved effec­tive in reduc­ing pre­op­er­a­tive anx­ie­ty in chil­dren and ­their moth­ers.