Measurement of pre-surgical stress in children and pre-adolescents admitted for emergency surgery in the Hospital de Niños Sor María Ludovica de La Plata: descriptive study

Abstract

Introduction: As health professionals, we have observed different behaviors in pediatric patients, without psychoprophylaxis, who are admitted for emergency surgery; patients who, according to their age, their social, family and cultural environment may manifest such behaviors interpreted as stress, in different ways.

Objective: Therefore, the general objective of our research was to measure the presurgical stress of children who would undergo emergency sur- gery, on Saturdays and Sundays by guard, at the Sor María Ludovica children’s hospital in the city of La Plata.

Materials and methods: We have conducted a pilot study of observational, descriptive, cross-sectional design; applying the modified YALE scale (EArPY-m) for data collection.

Results: We recruited 16 patients of which 10 were male (62.50%), who were admitted to be treated surgically by the specialties of traumatology and general surgery in equal parts. The median in age was 7 years and the median in compulsory schooling was 6 years. Within the sample obtained 56.25% attended primary school and 25% were in the preschool stage. 50% of the participants indicated that the mother was the one who calms them when they are nervous; while 43.75% was the mother who would like to be present at the time before surgery. The combination of the results obtained has exceeded the minimum reference values for the measurement of presurgical stress, 80% of children suffered from presurgical stress. Conclusions: We conclude that presurgical stress is a fact present in pediatric patients who have been included in the study, making it clear that surgery is a stressful factor for children.