HMC allows parents to escort children into OT

Hamad Medical Corporation’s Ambulatory Care Center is transforming the way children undergoing surgery under general anaesthetic receive care, it was announced yesterday.Parents are allowed to accompany their child into the operating theatre (OT) and stay with them while the anaesthetic is being administered.The initiative is part of a pilot project launched earlier this month under the stewardship of ACC director Dr Khalidal-Jalham.It is inspired by the results of international research studies which have shown that the presence of a parent during the induction of anaesthesia significantly decreases separation anxiety and stress for both the parent and their child.This anxiety can sometimes occur before a surgery, particularly with younger children when they leave their parent to enter the operating theatre before the anaesthetic isadministered.Multidisciplinary teams from the ACC’s perioperative nursing, ENT, paediatric dentistry, and anaesthesia departments reviewed the traditional management of paediatric patients in the operating theatre and identified new ways of enhancing patient and parental experience, which including having a parent present at the start of anaesthesia.Dr al-Jalham said, “The preparation of any child for surgery is a cause of great stress for both the child and his or her parents. At the Ambulatory Care Center, we believe one of the most important ways by which we can prevent this stress is to allow one of the parents to be present at the start of anaesthesia.”Professor Marco Marcus, HMC’s chairman of anaesthesiology, ICU, and perioperative medicine, explained that care teams meet with parents in advance to ensure they are fully prepared for their role in the theatre.“We prepare parents for this by providing them with a clear explanation of their role inside the theatre before the surgery takes place. They are given detailed information about both their role and the overall process when they visit the Pre-assessment Anaesthesia Clinic (PAAC) in the weeks or days preceding the planned surgery. This enables them to clearly understand what to expect and prepares them to support their child as best they can.”Dr Balakrishnan Ramachandran, senior consultant in anaesthesia and section head of anaesthesia for the ACC, was a key player in the setting up of the pilot. “Information about what both the child and the parent can expect is reinforced once again during a pre-operative phone call parents receive three to five days before the surgery. On the day of surgery, they are then very well prepared for what will happen. One parent is allowed to go into the operating theatre with their child until the child is asleep. This minimises any anxiety and distress the child may have prior to their surgery and results in a much calmer hospital experience,” he said.He added that after surgery, parents are invited to join their child in the post-operative recovery area so they are present, by their child’s side, to reassure them when they wake up.Recently, two-year-old Amanuel Endale was one of the first children to undergo general anaesthetic in the presence of a parent. His father Bereket Endale accompanied the boy into the operating theatre for his tonsillectomy (tonsil removal surgery). He commented on how calm his son was going to the theatre and called the experience very positive, particularly compared to that of his older son who had the same procedure one year prior. At that time he was unable to enter the theatre for the administering of the general anaesthetic, so Endale praised the initiative by the ACC as a change for the better.