title: Day-case surgery in children under 2 years of age: experience in a district general hospital and survey of parental satisfaction.
abstract: One surgeon's experience of day-case paediatric surgery in a population aged less than 2 years at a district general hospital is reported. During a 6-year period from 1989 to 1994, 82 day-case operations were performed in 79 infants and young children. All children were managed by a multidisciplinary team including surgeon, paediatric anaesthetist and paediatric nurses. There was no mortality and minimal morbidity. A telephone survey of parents enquiring into satisfaction with all aspects of pre-, peri-, and post-operative care revealed that the procedures are well-accepted. The survey also showed that there was no increased utilization of primary health care professionals when day-case surgery is performed in this young age group. We conclude that paediatric day-case surgery is safe and well-tolerated by both infants and parents and is suitable for performance in non-specialist centres provided a team approach is adopted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, East Glamorgan NHS Trust, Wales, UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stiff
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Haray
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chilcott
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D006767:Hospitals, District; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D010290:Parents; D010348:Patient Care Team