How to reduce pediatric stress before going through the operating room

The greatest fear of a child when facing an operation is the fear of the unknown, of being hurt and separated from his parents. Zahara is six years old and has a small tear in her earlobe.. It is a slight health problem, but one that has forced him to undergo surgery. Quite a challenge that, like so many other little ones, has caused fear and nerves for the girl and concern and concern for her parents.

Ricardo Díez García, a specialist at the Pediatric Surgery Service of the General University Hospital of Villalba, points out that, in the case of interventions on young children, it is the parents who must inform their child. “If they are adolescents, there is no problem that they find out the details of the intervention in the consultation, which they must understand and assume,” he clarifies.. It also warns that “cheating the child will create mistrust in future situations, they can even reproach him with phrases of the type” you already deceived me when…”. Going to surgery by surprise will cause fear.

Regarding the psychological and physiological manifestations that fear of the operation can cause the minor, Ennio José Fuentes Ceballos, a pediatric surgeon at the hospital, affirms that “like any picture of anxiety and fear, the child will be tachycardic, scared, and irritable.”. In addition, this perioperative stress can translate into sleep disorders, phobias, rejection of strangers…. The most sensitive will be children between two and eight years old, “he says.

“Diary of an intrepid traveler” is an initiative launched by the General University Hospital of Villalba that tries to improve the experience of minors. Thus, Zahara and her mother, Aránzazu, when they arrived at the center for the intervention, were positively surprised, which was knowing and experiencing the project firsthand.

A very special passport

Specifically, this pediatric humanization initiative turns the surgical path of underage patients into a “journey” in which they earn a new stamp for their passport at each stage of the process, and in which elements such as imagination, decoration of the waiting rooms, preparation and recovery boxes, and the paper and messages from the professionals help reduce the stress of the little ones and also that of their parents.

The passport includes a “map” that represents the surgical procedure and in which each stop along the route is equivalent to a part of the journey or to a hospital area through which the child must pass, until leaving the circuit, with the discharge of the child in the surgical block. With the delivery and the first stamp, as soon as you arrive at the hospital, an adventure will begin that will continue in the Admission of the Surgical Block, the preparation box and will end in the awakening box, where you will get the last one, as the final touch of the intervention.

“The surgery will thus become a journey through a magical world in which the fantasy and imagination of the child, together with the decoration, the messages that he will find throughout the journey and the support of the professionals, will accompany him on a magical adventure” , they affirm from the hospital center.

reduce anxiety

“When a parent is nervous, the child is too,” says Laura Bote Curiel, nurse coordinator of the General de Villalba Surgical Unit.. As he explains, “the project is aimed at promoting the active participation of parents in the surgical process and also involving children in it, informing each other of the phases and steps that will take place to reduce anxiety in this regard. ». “Knowing what steps are going to be taken and where, when and how your little one is going to be makes them more involved, more active and, above all, more relaxed,” he says.

“Diary of an intrepid traveler” is part of the health care humanization strategy of the Villalba hospital, as explained by Susana Zafra Llorente, head of its Information Service, Patient Experience and Social Work, who ensures that parents and children themselves are evaluating the project very positively, endorsing its contribution both to improving the patient experience and in terms of humanization. And it is that, “thanks to this initiative, the child will live his career in the surgical unit through a passport full of challenges, equivalent to each part of the process and which will translate into a new seal as he overcomes them”, adds Zafra Llorente .

Thus, Zahara's mother, Aránzazu, explains that “you carry your nerves inside, but the fact that the project makes us participate in this “trip” helps a lot, and it allows them to experience the process from the perspective of an adventure, of getting all the stamps, escaping from the place where they are and from the intervention».

“Diary of an intrepid traveler” was awarded by Cars for Smiles, a non-profit organization that works to improve the quality of life of children and young people who suffer from any disease or difficult condition.