title: Post-hospitalisation behavioural changes in children: effects of day-stay surgery.
abstract: Two comparable groups of young children, aged one to ten years, underwent minor ear, nose and throat surgery. One group was treated as day-stay patients at a private clinic and the other group spent two nights in a teaching hospital. Anaesthesia and surgery were similar in both groups. The incidence of post-hospitalisation behavioural changes was reported as 56.6% for the day-stay cases and 62.5% for the in-patients. The relative frequencies of the reported changes were not different between the groups except for apathy in the in-patient group and sleeping in parents bed in the day-stay group (p < 0.001). Parental satisfaction with the experience was high, 77% of the comments being positive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University of Stellenbosch, Medical School, Tygerberg, South Africa.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: de Roubaix
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires