Parental presence during anesthesia induction in children

Abstract

Family-centered care has become a popular topic in pediatric nursing and, therefore, is becoming an important part of both nursing anesthesia and perioperative nursing. Currently, few hospitals involve parents in pediatric surgery, even though the presence of a parent for pediatric anesthesia induction is strongly supported in the literature. This article reviews the literature regarding the effect on children and parents of parental presence during induction of pediatric anesthesia. Suggestions for appropriate parent-preparation techniques also are provided.

Coping with hospital‐related fears: experiences of pre‐school‐aged children

“…Separation from parents, nursing procedures, unfamiliar people, and being held cause them fear (Cullone 2000, Koening et al 2003. They also have to cope with restrictions of their selfdetermination and freedom of choice (Ivanoff et al 1999), and with the fears typical of their particular developmental stage, such as fear of darkness (Romino et al 2005, Brewer et al 2006.…”

Psycho-educational preparation of children for anaesthesia: A review of intervention methods

“…This practice should be initiated only if there is a general consensus among the hospital staff, if a local organisation allows such activity to be easily conducted, and if parental involvement is a key objective of hospital care. In this case, to make parents more self-confident and, therefore, provide good support for their children, families should be offered adequate information on what the surgical experience will involve and how to behave [42]. For instance, parents could be encouraged to actively talk to their child during induction, read them their favourite story, talk about a favourite child's activity they are going to do when the operation is over, sing the child a lullaby, etc.…”

Validation of the core elements of perioperative nursing

“…2006). This is particularly important for children – parental presence during anaesthesia induction is recommended to reduce children’s anxiety and to give family‐centred care (Romino et al. 2005).…”