I'm less than two shifts away from finishing my residency and I thought it was necessary that I ask, nay DEMAND to go to pediatric surgery.
Little adults these small loud creatures are not (hah!).
The wide teary eyes staring back at me while I hold the oxygen mask over the face they belong to with an iron grip are always and I do mean always, wide with fear. Anesthetic induction in kids is definitely a lot more traumatic to them compared to the surgery. It's also a bit traumatic for the anesthesiologist, to be quite honest.
It all starts with some pampering and baby talk and devolves into the eventual "pin him down!" and "please keep the kid from kicking me in the face/scratching off any more of my skin!". I like to call it the "Raya and Sekeena method". The physical immobilization, the mask firmly held over their squirming faces and the terror of it all. Those poor kids.
It's for their own good though and if I have to be the mean guy they have nightmares about for the rest of their life (and there must a shit-ton of kids "dreaming" of my masked face right now), then so be it!
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| Source : http://www.kindernarkose.ch/cartoons.htm |
2 comments:
Hi. I completely agree with this scenario. Pediatric inductions are barbaric, a crude mixture of "brutane" and the lies we tel the kids in the preop area about "blowing up balloons". And now we have their parent in the operating room during induction so, as we're holding their kid down, and the kid is trying to kick out our teeth, we're trying to convince the parent this is "all totally normal. And then there are the HCAHPS...don't get me started!
I may have a solution for this but, first, I'd like know where you got the cartoon of the anesthesiologist chasing the kid with the Ambu bag; I would like to use it for a new pediatric induction device/technique that, I hope, will put this scene to an end. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing.
Pediatrician in Mumbai
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