Children as Patients

All of the Fairbanks Anesthesia Providers have had specific training in the anesthetic care of children and infants. Our primary concerns with your child are safety and comfort. Even if your child is having a small operation, the anesthesia is still a full general anesthetic. You should begin to prepare your child for a trip to the hospital ahead of time. Knowing what to expect greatly reduces their fears as well as your own.

First of all, modern advances in techniques and vital sign monitoring have made anesthesia very safe for children. Secondly, methods for anesthetizing children are quite comfortable. It is rare that a child would need a shot or an IV while awake. Often a flavored liquid medicine is offered by mouth ahead of time to calm your child. Most kids can go off to sleep simply by breathing anesthesia air mixed with oxygen through a small face mask.

The anesthesiologist will evaluate your child's condition prior to surgery. It is imperative that you give him information regarding medical problems, recent colds and coughs, prior anesthesia experiences, drug allergies, and family problems with anesthesia.

It is critical that you know if your child has had anything to eat or drink prior to anesthesia. If a child must have emergency surgery, but has food or drink in their stomach, then an IV will probably be placed ahead of time in order to use specific intravenous anesthetics to go to sleep safely.

Your child will do best if calm and that is easier to accomplish if you, as a parent, appear confident and relaxed. Knowing that your child will be okay will help you to achieve this, although it is certainly normal for you to have some anxieties. You can reassure your child that they will be safe, that the doctors and nurses will be very nice to them and that you will be waiting for them nearby.

It is unusual for a parent to accompany a child into the surgical operating room as this can distract the anesthesia team. Occassionally however, the anesthesiologist will permit the parent to accompany a child in the three to four year old range, if the parent is calm and if there is clear benefit to the child. A parent may not accompany a child under the age of two as this group requires the fullest concentration of the anesthesia provider.

After surgery, some children wake up and are fully alert very quickly. Others will be groggy for several hours afterward. Yet others, will wake up grumpy and irritable. Nausea and vomiting can occur after any stressful operation, but newer medicines are far more successful in controlling this.

Fun Stuff

For a crossword puzzle activity that may familiarize your child with the operating room, click here. You can print the crossword puzzle, clues to the puzzle and the answers by going to each page and printing.