Preparation of children for elective surgery and hospitalisation: A parental perspective.
Martina Kennedy, Frances Howlin
PMID 34275370WHAT IT FOUND
Parents preparing children for elective surgery used online searches and a hospital story booklet, but often avoided explaining post-operative pain and fasting.
They saw doctors, not nurses, as the main educators.
Key findings
01Five parents reported a general Google search before talking to their child, and most parents used a hospital story booklet rather than an information sheet to educate their child.
02Parents named the physician as the primary educator of the child and parent, rather than the children's nurse.
03Parents often did not discuss post-operative pain or fasting with their child, because they did not know what to expect or found it hard to explain.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only eight parents, and the authors state that data saturation was not reached. It was done in one private hospital and only with children having ENT surgery, so it may not apply to public hospitals or children with other or more complex conditions. Parents were interviewed after surgery and may not have remembered all details accurately. The study did not interview the children, so it does not show what children understood or needed. All participants were mothers, and none were fathers, so the findings may not reflect fathers' experiences. Parents could not recall the specific websites they used, so the quality of the online information was not assessed.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as evidence that story booklets or nurse-led education reduce child anxiety. The study describes what eight parents said they did and does not measure child anxiety or compare interventions.