Expert Advice: How to prepare your child for surgery
Michaela "Mikki" Kollisch, MD, offers advice on how to get a child ready to undergo surgery. She is a pediatric surgeon at the Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital.
Host Amber Smith: Here's some expert advice from Dr. Mikki Kollisch from Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital. How can parents prepare a child for surgery?
Mikki Kollisch, MD: I find the kids are pretty intuitive, even if they're not yet speaking. And so I think that being honest with kids is probably the most important thing. And I would try to caution parents not to avoid talk about the surgery. It's usually more stressful for the patient if they don't find out that they're having surgery until the day of the actual procedure. The other thing is that routines are comforting. And so I suggest that you try to stick to usual routines, when you have dinner, when you go to bed, because if the child senses things are off or that mom and dad are nervous, then it can sometimes feed into their own anxiety. And then for older kids, it's good to encourage them to talk about the procedures and to ask questions because if they feel like mom and dad are reluctant to talk about it, again, maybe it might make the child themselves a little more nervous.
Host Amber Smith: You've been listening to Dr. Mikki Kollisch from Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital.