What to expect on the day of surgery

You and your child will be shown to your pre op room by a member of our Day Surgery team.

To get your child ready for surgery we need to:

• Place a name band on your child
• Measure a height and weight
• Obtain vital signs and complete a physical assessment
• Apply a cleansing wipe to the surgical area (if applicable)
• Complete a urine pregnancy test for all female and transgender male patients 11 years of age and older.
• Give an oral medication to help your child relax before going into the operating room
  • IV’s are not routinely started in the Pre Op area

Our surgical team will:

• Review your child’s health history
• Ask questions that are important to your child’s safety
• Answer any questions you or your child may have
• Have a parent or guardian sign a surgical consent form

Surgical operating room

Though an operating room can look intimidating, the highly skilled and compassionate people who work at Children's create a caring, trusting environment for children and families.

While we are preparing your child for surgery and giving anesthesia, he or she can hold a teddy bear or another comforting item. Even when you're out of the room, you can feel good knowing that our staff members will reassure your child by talking and even singing as he or she falls asleep. During the operation we will update you regularly and encourage you to ask questions about the procedure.

Many people will work together to take care of your child and make sure the operation runs smoothly.

Our surgical services team includes:

• Circulating nurses and anesthesiologists. As a team, nurses and anesthesiologists will meet with your family and answer your questions. Circulating nurses help the anesthesiologist put your child to sleep and position and pad your child to make him or her comfortable during long operations. Most importantly, circulating nurses document the surgical procedure, including medications your child receives, and sends specimens to the lab. The nurse will also keep you informed about what is going on.
• Surgical technicians. Surgical technicians are responsible for the sterile set-up of instruments and equipment needed for each operation and for handing instruments to the surgeon during the operation.
• Pediatric surgeons. Our pediatric surgeons specialize in different areas of surgery, including heart, craniofacial, dental, ENT (ear, nose, and throat), eye, general, neurosurgery and neurology, orthopedic, plastic and reconstructive, organ transplant, and urology. They perform a wide variety of operations, ranging from straightforward to very complex.
• Pediatric anesthesiologists. Pediatric anesthesiologists are experts in safely putting and keeping children to sleep. They monitor your child throughout the operation and provide medication to keep your child's vital signs normal and to control pain.
• Anesthesia technicians. Anesthesia technicians check and set-up the equipment and restock anesthesia supplies.
• Pediatric pharmacists. In every surgery area we have a pharmacy that is staffed at least 10 hours a day by a pediatric pharmacist. Being closer to the patient decreases the time it takes to give your child medications. In addition, medication orders can be clarified more quickly, medications can be anticipated and mixed with less waste, and pain medications can be started during the operation instead of after children are awake.