Children's own perspectives demonstrate the need to improve paediatric perioperative care

Abstract

AimTo explore children's perspectives when facing anaesthesia and surgery.DesignInterpretative qualitative design.MethodsChildren undergoing outpatient surgery were interviewed in three different phases, before and after anaesthesia and surgery (phase 1 and 2) and 1 month after the hospitalization (phase 3). Twenty‐two children (4–15 years) were interviewed in phase 1 and 2 and six children (5–13 years) in phase 3. Data were analysed using manifest and latent qualitative content analysis.ResultsTwo contrasting themes were identified: Fearful in association with anaesthesia and surgery and Confident in association with anaesthesia and surgery. Comprehension of the perioperative procedures, continuous information and interaction with the healthcare providers were decisive factors for children's expressions of confidence or fearfulness. Events considered as major from a healthcare perspective may be of no importance to the child, while events considered as less important by healthcare providers may be significant to the child. Understanding children's perspectives and awareness of their need to process the information provided are significant factors for establishment of trust and confidence in a highly technological perioperative environment.

Young children’s experiences of support when fearful during treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia—A longitudinal interview study

“…Similarly Lööf et al (2019), reported that 4-to-13-year-olds recalled previous negative needle-related experiences and were thus afraid of experiencing the same again during later hospitalizations. Coyne (2006) reported that somewhat older children (7-14 years) also had fears about blood tests and injections.…”

“…Needle-related fear has been reported as common in children of various ages (Coyne, 2006;Leibring & Anderzén-Carlsson, 2019;Lööf et al, 2019;Salmela et al, 2009;Taddio & McMurtry, 2015).…”

“…Support and security from adults are generally important to a child under stress (Lööf et al, 2019). Thus, paediatric healthcare professionals have an important role in empowering fearful children (Kleye et al, 2021).…”

“…Children can be reassured when healthcare professionals ask about and adapt to their preferences or offer them information (Kleye et al, 2021;Lööf et al, 2019). Humour and small gifts are valued rewards for undergoing surgery (Lööf et al, 2019), and children also like to be distracted (Kleye et al, 2021;Lööf et al, 2019) by games (Kleye et al, 2021), toys, films or social media interactions with friends (Lööf et al, 2019). Imaginal coping, in which the child interacts with the one providing the distraction, is another specific distraction technique (Rindstedt, 2014).…”

The Spanish Version Of The Child Medical Fear Questionnaire: Cross-Cultural Adaptation And Validation

“…When the scale is used in the future, to ensure correct comprehension of this item, it is recommended to include a colloquial expression for tongue blade in brackets, such as stick ("Palito" in Spanish). The difficulty with the medical terminology for school age children has been observed in a range of studies [29,30].…”