Children cope better with the hospital experience when they are well prepared. Being honest with your child will help build trust with you and with your child’s caregivers. McLeod Health Anesthetist Myra Alton, CRNA, explains the importance of open communication as your child gets ready for their procedure.

“The pre-op phase for children is a complicated situation and has to be directed toward the developmental age of the child and the child’s maturity. It’s important to let children know what to expect when they’re coming here. You don’t want to blindside them when they’re coming to the hospital.

Children who come to McLeod for surgery have the opportunity to be in contact with our child life service. We have child life therapists on staff who can address pre-op teaching coping mechanisms, help parents understand how to prepare their children for surgery, and post-op, how to deal with them emotionally. On the McCloud Children’s Hospital website, there is even a tab for a video that children can watch of a simulated experience before surgery to get them ready to come to the operating room.

When a child comes to the operating room, it’s very important that they come to us with an empty stomach. The risk is that under anesthesia, when their bodies are relaxed, that abdominal contents can passively come up and go into their lungs while they’re asleep, causing an aspiration pneumonia, which can be fatal.

When a child gets to the hospital, they’re in a very strange environment. And so are the parents for that matter. So it’s a high anxiety situation. So as an anesthetist, I have the opportunity to walk into that room with people who’ve never met me before and take just a few minutes of important bonding and really interact and engage with a child.

The anesthesia medications that we use in modern days have come a long way. The advances in medicine have been huge in the recovery phase. We are able to keep patients more comfortable, now keeping them safe, eliminating the needs for opioids and incorporating other medications that sedate without causing respiratory depression.”

To learn more pediatric surgery, speak with a pediatrician near you.