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Patient positioning interacts with a number of body systems and can impact clinically important perioperative outcomes. In this educational review, we present the available evidence on the impact that patient positioning can have in the pediatric perioperative setting. A literature search was conducted using search terms that focused on pediatric perioperative outcomes prioritized by contemporary research in this area.
Five The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers working across diverse and highly impactful areas of child health research have been named as finalists for the 2023 Premier’s Science Awards.
The generous support of West Australians through Channel 7’s Telethon Trust will help support vital child health research at The Kids Research Institute Australia in 2023.
Peter Britta Richmond Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg AM FAHMS MBBS MRCP(UK) FRACP MD, PhD, DEAA, FANZA Head, Vaccine Trials Group Chair of Paediatric
Monitoring children's recovery postoperatively is important for routine care, research, and quality improvement. Although telephone follow-up is common, it is also time-consuming and intrusive for families. Using SMS messaging to communicate with families regarding their child's recovery has the potential to address these concerns. While a previous survey at our institution indicated that parents were willing to communicate with the hospital by SMS, data on response rates for SMS-based postoperative data collection is limited, particularly in pediatric populations.
Perioperative pain management impacts patient morbidity, quality of life, and hospitalization cost. In children, it impacts not only the child, but the whole family. Adjuncts for improved perioperative analgesia continue to be sought to minimize adverse side effects associated with opioids and for those in whom regional or neuraxial anesthesia is not suitable.
At two hospitals in Western Australia, we conducted a prospective, open-label, randomised, controlled trial of 240 patients undergoing tonsillectomy to investigate the effect of chewing a confectionery jelly snake on postoperative nausea and vomiting. The results were published in Anaesthesia Critical Care & Pain Medicine. Recruitment for this study was completed uneventfully between July 2018 and August 2019.
Among all surgical specialties, vascular surgery has the greatest proportion of patients with unplanned admissions to the intensive care unit postoperatively. Therefore, current clinical pathways for the postoperative management of vascular surgery patients may need to be revised.