Palatoplasty in children: nursing diagnoses and interventions related to the immediate postoperative period.
Ana Flávia Martinez, Nayara Tomazi Batista, Gesiane Cristina Bom and 3 others
PMID 35007314WHAT IT FOUND
After palatoplasty, nursing records for children in the immediate postoperative period showed impaired oral mucosa, pain, breathing and feeding problems, and risks of infection, aspiration, bleeding, falls, and disorganized behavior, alongside airway care, incision care, analgesia, monitoring, and calming interventions.
Key findings
01Impaired oral mucous membrane was listed for 83% (n = 105), with oral discomfort in 83% and oral edema in 45%.
02All 126 children had risk diagnoses for infection, aspiration, disorganized infant behavior, falls, and bleeding.
03Airway aspiration, incision site care, pain control, analgesics administration, calming technique, vital signs monitoring, infection protection, aspiration precautions, post-anesthesia care, anxiety reduction, baby care, fall prevention, environment control safety, and bleeding precautions were each documented for 126 children (100%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It is a retrospective review of records from one hospital, so it may reflect local documentation habits rather than care delivered everywhere. The study reports diagnoses and interventions documented, not patient outcomes, complications, or whether care prevented them. Only non-syndromic children aged 10 to 24 months who had palatoplasty alone were included, so it says little about children with syndromes, comorbidities, or other surgeries. The supplied text does not report the agreement percentage between record findings and researchers' findings, so documentation accuracy cannot be judged.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this list of nursing diagnoses and interventions as evidence that they prevent complications or improve recovery. It is a retrospective description of what nurses documented in the immediate postoperative period, not a tested intervention study.