Peri‐radiographic guidelines for children with autism spectrum disorder: a nationwide survey in Sweden

Abstract

It is suggested that guidelines should be developed in order to increase interaction in a supportive way and decrease anxiety during the peri-radiographic process with children with ASD.

Developing communication support for interaction with children during acute radiographic procedures

“…27 To date, most of the information excludes those children. 28 The illustrations facilitated the child's story and in that sense person-centredness in health care. 1 Although the combination of illustrations and text is fruitful, the level of text should be adapted to the individual's needs, age and Table 1 Examples from the analysis of interviews with children.…”

Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Anesthesia and Radiographic Context

“…An investigation into the existence and present usage of guidelines regarding children with ASD in anesthesia, pediatric, and radiology departments throughout Sweden followed this literature review. These surveys asked respondents to attach their guidelines (when present), and they also encouraged respondents to comment on their own routines involving children with ASD, even in the absence of written guidelines within their department (10,11).…”

“…This alert enables the HCPs to preemptively contact the child's parents and create a personalized plan for the forthcoming encounter (5,10,17,20,21). Nationwide surveys, however, have shown a recurrent failure in the healthcare system to properly identify children with ASD in advance of their visits (10,11). When asked about this issue, parents suggested that there should be a notification (or similar "alert") in the child's medical chart about his or her ASD diagnosis; thus, when the child visits the emergency department, the parents would not be routinely tasked with providing this information (and its inherent complexities) to the treating HCP (4).…”

“…Given their frequent visits to healthcare settings, these children need to receive care and treatment in accordance with their specific needs (8,9). In healthcare departments that are highly dependent on technology, such as the departments for radiology and anesthesia, the limited knowledge about the general needs of children with ASD-as well as the lack of initiative in acquiring knowledge about the individual needs of a child with ASD-remain persistent problems (5,10,11).…”

“…However, this contact is generally one-sided, rarely involving the transfer of information about a child's specific needs from the parents to the HCPs. Rather, the information pertains exclusively to the details of the procedure itself, unilaterally relayed from HCPs to the parents (10,11,14,19). In order to successfully mitigate the anxiety of a child with ASD in anesthesia or radiology departments, HCPs should engage in a dialogue with the parents, prior to the planned procedure; this open communication would allow HCPs to obtain information about the particular needs of the child instead of merely conveying information (5,19,20).…”