Ideas That Work: Put Your Pediatric Patients at Ease

The OR can be a scary place for any patient, let alone your pint-sized ones. Check out these creative and fun ideas to ease kids' anxieties before surgery.

— Compiled by Daniel Cook

IN THE FUN LANE Push cars are a neat way to transport kids to the OR.

A Joy Ride to Surgery

Anything we can do to keep kids comfortable and relaxed contributes to faster recoveries. OR nurse Joanne Zrate, RN, came up with the idea to use push cars to transport pediatric patients to the operating room. We were fortunate to have ours donated, but you can purchase the pint-size rides online from a big box toy retailer (osmag.net/J2sJUb). When kids are ready for discharge, we give them a pair of sunglasses and a sippy cup and then wheel them curbside to their family's (adult-size) vehicle.

Geri Tusalem
UMass Memorial-HealthAlliance Hospital
Leominster, Mass.
[email protected]

SHOW TIME Physicians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital entertain kids with a portable movie screen that attaches to the pre-op stretcher.

Bedside Theater Travels With Little Ones

We developed a mobile entertainment system that travels with kids so they can watch their favorite show as they're wheeled back to the OR. Use clamps to attach a plastic movie screen to kids' stretchers in pre-op. The kids can choose from a variety of TV shows, movies and music videos, which we stream through YouTube and project onto the screen with a battery-powered portable video projector like this one (osmag.net/FNdA4w). We've also developed a few custom videos, including one that incorporates Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear, Minions and a NASA-like countdown, to create a blastoff scenario we use during induction as we excitedly place the "space mask" on the patient. It's all designed to transform the operating room experience into a fun narrative.

Sam Rodriguez, MD
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Palo Alto, Calif.
[email protected]