My little boy attended at the Crichton ward for surgery to open a blocked tear duct. The care he received was excellent for the most part, however we had a poor experience with the communication and process of administering anaesthesia.
On arrival, the anaesthesiologist assigned to my child met with us and explained that an attempt would be made intravenously in the first instance, and if that was not possible then gas would be administered through a mask. There was no further explanation in terms of the process of administering gas using a mask at this stage.
When we were taken through, the anaesthetist could not find a vein in my little boy’s hands. He was sitting on my knee calmly watching a TV show on my husband’s phone as a distraction while the anaesthetist searched for a vein. It felt very calm and child-centred. The anaesthetist then advised that their colleague was just outside and that they would ask them to check if they could find a vein.
The second anaesthetist entered the room and could not find a vein. My child was still sitting calmly at this point. There was then discussion in relation to administering gas instead, but rather than explain what was about to happen, the anaesthetist pointed to the top of a blanket and said - put his head here. I put my child on the blanket and he was then restrained in the blanket and pinned down on the bed with the mask placed over his face.
It all happened very quickly and without appropriate communication. I stroked his head to try and calm him down but he was absolutely terrified, going bright red with crying and writhing at being restrained in a blanket and pinned down. He cried, kicked and writhed so much that he managed to turn partially on his front. There were comments made along the lines of he’s really fighting it and it doesn’t usually take this long, which were not comforting. We had prepared for the anaesthetic to be a bit sad in that he would go to sleep, but the lack of communication meant we had not prepared for something which was quite frankly distressing and traumatic for all of us.
Had I known and had enough time to process that he would be fully restrained in a blanket and pinned down, I feel I would have advocated better for him. I struggle to understand why distraction methods were not used in the first instance with my husband holding him tightly sitting upright, and me assisting with the holding if necessary. There was no explanation given.
I hope consideration will be given to not using this method of restraint going forward- it felt inhumane and outdated, inappropriate for his age, and was distressing for all of us.
"Poor experience with the communication and process of administering anaesthesia"
About: Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (Edinburgh) / Crichton Ward Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (Edinburgh) Crichton Ward Edinburgh EH16 4TJ
Posted by Chrtx33 (as ),
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