Nearly 2,000 children at Medway Maritime Hospital have a general anaesthetic each year for planned surgery. As well as enabling children to feel safe and reassured, alleviating anxiety can also have clinical benefits, including helping to reduce any side effects of the anaesthetic and improving recovery times.
The special Beano comic strip, developed in partnership with the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, is designed to help children and their parents/carers understand what happens in the run-up to an operation, the care children will need afterwards and how they can best prepare and make informed decisions throughout, adding in an element of shared decision making. This approach to treatment is known as perioperative care, and as Dennis and the Menace family finds out, there are practical things that parents can do to help their children prepare for an operation, such as eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of sleep and exercise.
Dr Black added: “Eighty per cent of children experience anxiety related to a hospital episode. It is really important for children to be involved in the decision-making process and to have the opportunity to use the time in the run-up to their operation to make positive changes such as eating and sleeping well and doing some exercise.
“All children who are due to have a general anaesthetic will benefit from reading ‘Dennis has an anaesthetic’ even if they are not outwardly demonstrating anxiety.”
As well as being a fun and playful way to help children understand more about their operation and how to prepare for it, ‘Dennis has an anaesthetic’ includes familiar characters, games and links to other resources.
Patients, parents and carers can download ‘Dennis has an anaesthetic’ for free by scanning the QR codes located in the Magpie Centre at Medway Maritime Hospital.
