Preparing your child for a hospital visit

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Being told your child needs surgery can be a stressful experience for parents and handing responsibility for the care of their child to health professionals and the surgical teams can similarly be traumatic. In the case of non emergency admittance, parents can use the few days before going to hospital to prepare their children and to smooth the process as easily as they can.

Even young children respond well to information about surgery and the procedures they are going to have done. Simple explanations of what is to happen, preferably repeated every day for the few days before hand is the best.

Unnecessary distress is caused when children are not told the truth about their visit to the hospital  Encourage children to ask questions and ensure that answers are clear, simple and do not hide facts. Never lie to a child about the surgeries or visit to the hospital.

Children are more likely to be concerned if parents show their stress and anxiety. Its therefore in the childs best interest for parents to remain positive and upbeat about the procedures. There are a number of child friendly storybooks available to read to children before hand and many hospitals have these for sale.

Parental distress is often caused by their own experiences within the medial field, or their lack of knowledge and understanding of what the procedures entail. Internet research and good communications with the specialists and medial professionals are essential to ease concerns.

Make the visit to the hospital as stress free as possible by:

* not rushing to get there – leave in plenty of time to make the appointment.
* ensuring you know where to go to when you get there – do a dry run with out your child if possible in the days beforehand.
* ensure all paperwork has been completed beforehand so admission is as simple and quick as possible.
* bringing special toys or cuddlies for children to bring into their beds
* showing the child that you are calm and collected through positive body language and deep breathing.
* keeping in physical contact with the child to soothe and calm them until it is an appropriate time to allow the professionals to take over.
* keeping the goodbye as short and positive as possible with promises of seeing them as soon as you can.
* walking away out of sight before you let the tears and emotion out.

Paediatric nurses, doctors and medical professionals have vast experience in reassuring and settling children ( and their parents) so that procedures can continue in a safe manner.  Whilst parents need to trust their instincts and ensure that they question and gather as much information about the procedure beforehand; ultimately, they must then hand over that responsibility to these professionals and allow them to do the jobs that they have trained for many years to perform.

Regardless to the procedure or reason for your child to be admitted to hospital, it is a traumatic time for everyone but with clear and positive communication amongst family members, this stress can be lessened for all involved.

Photo is from a private unpublished collection.

Annie is a freelance writer and describes herself as a Thaumaturg  (what mother isn’t?). She is also a teacher and lover of words. View her growing amount websites and blogs here.

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