An adult person gets restless before entering the operating room. He does not know what is really going to happen in there, nor what they are going to do to him in detail. In the case of children, the resulting anguish or stress that this type of process can generate can be even greater. The minor does not meet his parents, who always protect him, but it is that they go to a totally unknown place and not always pleasant for the little ones, such as the doctor or a health center.
For this reason, finding alternatives or possible solutions when it comes to relieving this stress that can occur in this type of situation should be key, especially when it comes to ensuring better results after surgery.
One option is accompanying children to the operating room, a practice highly valued by Dr. Francisco Javier Hernández Calvín, associate head of the ENT Service at Hospital Quirónsalud San José, in Madrid, “for the benefits and positive repercussions it has on both parents and children».
In the opinion of Dr. Hernández, when a father or mother can accompany their child to the operating room, greater peace of mind and confidence is generated, not only in minors, but also in the parents themselves: «In many cases, these are new situations for all of them; while reducing the child’s stress levels. That is why the usual motivation for letting parents enter the operating room with their children is to reduce their stress level. It is a very stressful process for them, as well as unknown, many times they do not know what they are going to do, what is going to happen to them, and if the parents are with them, this gives them security”, explains the Quirónsalud San José specialist.
A more satisfying experience
In addition, it highlights that the knowledge of the anesthesia and operating room team that carries out the procedure, something that is not common even in adult surgeries, helps throughout the process.
«If the father goes to the operating room and recognizes the doctors, it gives the child more security and makes him collaborate better in the anesthetic induction. In addition, when the child wakes up he does not have much sense of loss, his stress level is lower, and with it the analgesic requirements, and a more satisfactory experience in the entire surgical process for parents and children because they realize of the complexity of the surgical acts and have more information on how to deal with the postoperative period and what has been done”, remarks the ORL.
Electric cars, another way to relieve stress
Another practice that many hospitals have implemented in recent years to alleviate this type of stressful situation in minors is the use of electric cars for transfer to the operating room.
«This improvement measure offers children the opportunity to face an operation through play and fun, thus reducing the anguish that facing the operating room usually causes them.», explains doctor Adelaida Sánchez Bacallao, head of the Pediatric Service at Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella, which has just incorporated four electric cars thanks to a donation from the company Ataa Cars.
These electric cars are usually replicas of real models of high-end vehicles, which allow their control by means of a remote control, which is handled by the health personnel during the journey that the child must make from the room to the operating room, or to the performance of a diagnostic test.
For the pediatrician, the use of these strollers in the hospital environment represents a “great improvement” in the experience of the smallest patients: “Our main objective is that the child’s stay in the hospital is positive and pleasant, avoiding the anxiety that usually arise when they face an operation”, points out the specialist.
Our main objective is that the child’s stay in the hospital is positive and pleasant, avoiding the anxiety that usually arises when they face an operation.
Adelaida Sánchez Bacallao
Pediatric Service of the Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella
Dr. Sánchez Bacallao maintains that this concern disappears when the minors get into the cars because, from that moment, they begin to perceive their situation as a game: “The child is entertained and is abstracted from the environment in which it’s found. This fun attitude is also a relief for parents who feel relieved to see how their children lose their fear in the moments before the intervention.
Benefits over the administration of anesthesia
In addition, underlines the head of the Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Service, Dr. Blas Rodríguez Gil, the reduction in anxiety derived from having fun prior to entering the operating room also benefits at the time of anesthesia administration: «Studies confirm that the Fear, stress, and anxiety affect when administering anesthesia and in the awakening phase of the little ones. Our staff always take care of all the details and the context in which a child attends an operation. These cars are an added element to an action protocol specially designed so that they feel in the best conditions of comfort in the operating room”.
Explaining to them before the operating room what you are going to do to the child and entering the area to help in the anesthetic induction brings a lot of peace of mind to the family
Javier Caceres Rico
Head of the Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Service at Quirónsalud San José
For his part, Dr. Fernando David Mera, an Otolaryngology specialist at Quirónsalud San José, insists on the idea that if parents accompany their children during all these processes, this gives them peace of mind; something that in the long term would provide better results after the operation, as well as fewer complications.
«It has been seen that as the child falls asleep, so will he wake up and, consequently, many post-surgical complications, such as bleeding, will decrease.. If the children are more irritable and wake up in an agitated way, they can have more complications and with this system of accompaniment by the parents we reduce it », she extols.
In turn, Dr. Javier Cáceres Rico, head of the Anesthesiology and Resuscitation service at Quirónsalud San José, maintains that parental accompaniment also brings benefits to the parents themselves and, ultimately, greater peace of mind throughout the process meet the entire medical team treating your child. “Explaining to them before the operating room what you are going to do to the child and entering the area to help in the anesthetic induction brings a lot of peace of mind to the family,” he says.