Noa went to the operating room in an Audi blue convertible. In the early hours of Friday morning, the small, four-years, took the wheel of the vehicle and, wearing a pajamas printing of color drawings, began to roll into the operating room. About the awesome sport of high range —remote control for a toilet three more steps— back, Noa crossed smiling the hallway that led to the operating room to be operated on for an umbilical hernia. Meanwhile, the medical team of the outpatient surgery center, hospital Parc Taulí of Sabadell (Barcelona), harangued to the conductive between laughter and clapping. The health of this unit Taulí have launched this particular transfer to the operating table to reduce the stress and anxiety of pediatric patients in the surgical processes.
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A playground on the roof of the hospital for hospitalised children How to humanize hospitals
“the nurses in The ambulatory surgical center, we wanted to humanize pediatric care. The car has proved to be a dramatic change, both for the children, who enter the more calm, as well as for the parents, who are more calm to see that their children are going to the operating room happy and content,” explains the nurse, Laura Porcar, one of the architects of this initiative, which is inspired by a project developed in a hospital of Oklahoma (united States). The unit of ambulatory surgery attends interventions that, although they are considered to be of lower complexity and have the high on the same day —hernias, phimosis…—, yes, require general anesthesia.
The transfer to the operating room in the remote control car toy has been added to the range of initiatives available to the Taulí —clowns, room decor infant, toys, music in the operating room— in order to humanize the hospital environment for the tiniest patients. The intention is to reduce anxiety pre-surgery and also an anxiolytic medication that is administered to the juvenile prior to entering the operating room. “Until now premedicaba children with anti-anxiety medications by the intranasal route to reduce the anxiety of the operation and to be separated from their parents while entering the operating room. But now we have been developing strategies to replace the drugs, such as clowns, music, or the use of tablets. The stroller is another strategy to create an environment that is not hostile in the hospitals. Do this to live more like a game,” explains Silvia López, coordinator of the Unit of Pediatric Anesthesia of the Taulí.
In its first week of shooting, the Audi a convertible has already led to the operating room to a dozen children. “None of them has ever required pre-medication of anxiolytics”, confirms dr. Lopez. The next week, doctors will test to reduce to half the dose of the drugs that are often administered —because quantities are quite low to be minor— to assess how to live better, the entrance to the operating room. Soon, families and professionals agree that the first week behind the wheel of this sporty-blue-high-end has been “excellent”. “It was a surprise to all. She was a little bit worried and told the nurse that I was nervous, but when I showed him the car, is excited. In fact, a long time ago that I said I wanted to get a stroller such because I used to see in shopping centers and on tours of the site where veraneamos”, explains Antonio Martinez, father of Noa. The car was good to the small, but also to their parents: “The tension you have, but as you see distracted, that helps,” admits Antonio.
Noah is already home and the operation has been “quick and everything has gone well,” confirms his father. The convertible has taken center stage of the day. “It is what it is saying to all the world: his sister, his grandparents… That has been uploaded in the car!”, tells Antonio, who also did not rule out that the car appears in the letter to santa Claus.
