A visit to hospital can be distressing for children and their parents, and all our staff are here to help make your child’s visit to Bendigo Day Surgery as pleasant and comfortable as possible.
Tips to Help with your Visit
1. Reduce your Waiting time
- Complete and return your pre-admission paperwork to us a few days before the procedure
- We will call you on the day before the procedure to give you an arrival time. Young children are usually early on the operating list.
2. Come in and have a look around!
- Your child may like to come in and have a look at the waiting areas, get to meet some of our staff and ask questions. You could do this when you bring in your preadmission paperwork.
3. Bring something from home
- Bring an iPad, book or favorite toy to help keep them occupied.
- Your child can wear their own pyjamas into theatre as long as they button up the front.
- A favorite “comfort food” may help them feel better more quickly after the procedure.
On the Day of the Procedure
The preoperative Nurses will complete your admission and get your child ready for theatre, You will meet the Anaesthetist soon after you arrive at Bendigo Day Surgery for the pre-anaesthetic assessment.
You can usually accompany your child into the operating theatre (if you want) and stay with them until they are asleep.
It may take 2-3 hours before they are ready to come home, so please make sure that you are comfortable too!
After the procedure
The Nursing staff in the Recovery room will call you in when your child is awake and you can stay with them. They may have some pain or nausea initially, and will need to stay in Recovery until this settles.
We will give you detailed postoperative information about pain relief, dressings and wound care, and resuming diet and normal activity. If you have any questions, please ask.
Travelling Home
You should ideally have two adults in the car on the trip home with a small child, one to drive and one to look after the child.