Unitas, Libertas, Caritas: the meaning of science for general practice

OBJECTIVE: Fear of surgery affects recovery in the emotional and behavioral state that leads the child to call the nurse more often or to ingest more sedatives after the operation. The present work evaluated the effects of psychological preparation for surgery during the pre-surgical period on the post-surgical recovery during the hospital stay in order to evaluate the effects that this preparation had on the recovery of the child. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The sample was composed of 60 pediatric patients of both sexes between 7 and 14 years of age admitted for minor scheduled surgery. Fear and five indicators of recovery were evaluated during the post-surgical period (call to the nurse, ingestion of sedatives and liquids, miction and sleep). The children were assigned randomly to one of the following four groups: filmed modeling, coping skills, filmed modeling plus coping skills, and control. RESULTS: The results indicated that the prepared children showed less fear, called the nurses less often, were administered fewer doses of sedatives and slept better after the operation. Analysis of the size of the effect showed that the programs that included coping skills training obtained the most benefits in the post-surgical recovery.