Day care admissions

Parent's management of their child's pain in the home following day surgery

When a child returns home following day case surgery, the parent becomes responsible for the assessment and treatment of their child's pain. Pain is documented as being the most common complication following day case surgery. The study investigated parental management of their child's pain at home following day surgery. A purposive sample of 100 parents of children undergoing day case surgery at a regional paediatric hospital was obtained. Parents were contacted by telephone in their own home 24 hours after day surgery and, through a structured interview schedule, were asked a series of questions relating to their child's pain management and discharge information. The results indicated that parents managed their child's pain in the home if provided with information and suitable analgesia on discharge. Instigation of telephone follow-up for parents was upheld as a measure to provide support to parents, as 79 percent of parents found the telephone call useful.

A review of current practice for boys undergoing hypospadias repair: from pre-operative work up to removal of dressing post-surgery

The aim of this article was to examine an area from dinical practice, in this instance, paediatric urology and to look at the information needs of families prior to their young sons' having surgery to correct a hypospadias. Involving families and promoting informed decision-making with families prior to hypospadias repair for their child is important. To be able to facilitate real involvement the information has to be shared and parents and families given adequate support and opportunity to seek answers to questions. Providing an environment to undertake this, to then learn from the families for the future and to support the development of a National Support group, www.hypospadias.co.uk have been outcomes from setting up a pre-admission clinic. Literature in respect of after-care is very sparse. It became evident from clinical practice that the rationale for applying a dressing postoperatively needed to be explored. Furthermore limited evidence about dressing removal, coupled with the anxiety and upset this caused parents, identified the need to consider two issues (i) a better method of removal of dressings and (ii) the effects on pain scores. A blinded randomized controlled feasibility study was developed and implemented, with completion due at the end of 2001.