Home next day: early discharge of children following appendicectomy

Abstract

Fifty-six children in two groups were discharged within 24 hours of an uncomplicated appendicectomy. While the children in the first group (N = 21) were visited by a nurse at home within 24 hours of discharge, the second group (N = 35) just received telephone calls. The cohort was evaluated by telephone interviews two weeks after discharge. All children fulfilling the discharge standards were discharged safely within 24 hours of surgery. Any physical complaints post-discharge were considered minor. The nurses were able to provide reassurance to the families, give advice and deal with minor problems. As a result the families felt safe and reassured, and in only one case did the fragility of parental confidence become obvious. This study has demonstrated the safety of discharging these children within 24 hours of surgery and the value to nursing contacts in enabling the families to care for their children at home.

Children's postoperative symptoms at home through nurse‐led telephone counseling and its effects on parents’ anxiety: A randomized controlled trial

“…Telephone counseling has been used as a follow‐up measure for children at home (Gischler, Mazer, Poley, Tibboel, & Dijk, ; Jones et al., ; Paquette, May, Fiola, Villeneuve, & Lapointe, ; Pfeil et al., ; Rosbe, Jones, Jalisi, & Bray, ; Stewart, Ragg, Sheppard, & Chalkiadis, ; Young, Siden, & Tredwell, ). As an example, for families of children with congenital abnormalities, nurse‐based counseling on a 24‐hr basis created a chance for early intervention (Gischler et al., ).…”

Hypospadias repair: the nursing contribution

“…All parents, whether they made emergency calls or not, commented on the importance of this facility. Apart from the quality of advice the main factor contributing to the effectiveness of the emergency telephone number was its reliability, only when this was achieved could the reassuring effect make itself felt (Pfeil et al , 2007).…”

“…However, Marrocco et al (2004) found no difference in the complication rate between day surgery and traditional hospitalization in hypospadias. Furthermore, hospitalization in itself is a major stressor for young children and their families; most families value earlier discharge following surgery as long as they feel safe and confident concerning the required care (Pfeil et al , 2007). On the other hand, parents must not be ‘pushed’ into early discharge.…”

Foreign body causing perforation of the appendix in an African boy

“…Pain in the abdomen has a broad differential diagnosis encompassing relatively benign conditions such as urinary tract infection or constipation to life threatening emergencies such abdominal perforation [1]. Appendicitis is the most commonly performed emergency abdominal surgery and the leading cause of acute paediatric surgical admission yet determining which patients have appendicitis is difficult [2,3]. Various scoring systems based on clinical signs have been shown to be of use in identifying patients at high risk of appendicitis [4].…”