[Immediate post-operative care following cardiac surgery].
OBJECTIVE
To present a care routine for children submitted to heart surgery.


METHODS
Literature review of Medscape, MD Consult and PubMed. Analysis of the suggested conducts adopted by various services from different countries and comparison with the care routine at the Pequeno Príncipe Children's Hospital (Curitiba, state of Paraná), where approximately 8,000 heart surgeries were performed in children from 1977 to April 2003.


RESULTS
Our hospital is a reference center for Cardiology and Heart Surgery in the state of Paraná and neighboring states. The improvement of conditions for diagnosis, training of the clinical and surgical teams, better equipped ICU with more modern monitoring, training of ICU personnel from all areas to handle the post-operative requirements of patients submitted to heart surgery, an adequate hospital structure with advanced care in all pediatric and paramedic specialties have resulted in marked improvement in relation to previous years in terms of the results of surgical interventions in children with congenital or acquired heart disease, especially newborns and young babies with complex heart problems.


CONCLUSIONS
Children with heart diseases, especially complex conditions, should be receive care at reference centers that can provide global care before, during and after the surgery.
João
Paulo Ramos David
PR
Hospital Infantil Pequeno Príncipe, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Faria Junior
Fernando
F
D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000628:therapy