You also may meet anesthesiologists in other hospital areas. For example, if your child needs a specialized radiological test including diagnostic scans, an anesthesiologist may well be present to provide anesthesia or safe sedation for your child. Following surgery, anesthesiologists are often involved in providing pain relief for your child and are consulted in the pediatric intensive care unit. Even if your child is not undergoing an operation, an anesthesiologist may be consulted for pain management, respiratory care and other medical situations. It is important that you begin preparing your child for the operation as soon as a decision is made to perform surgery.
Children tolerate surgery and anesthesia better when they are well-prepared.
As with all of us, children have natural fears of the unknown. Anything you can do to relieve these anxieties and to inform your child about the coming events in the hospital and the operating room will greatly improve your child's experience. Before you explain to your child what to expect, you also must learn what to expect. It is very important to learn about your child's anesthetic experience beforehand by discussing it with the anesthesiologist in the preanesthetic interview. Once you learn what will happen, you will gain confidence and be better able to talk calmly and honestly to your child.