Children are not small adults – not only do they need a certain type of specialty care, but their experiences both in and out of the hospital can have life-long effects. The possibility of your child requiring surgery can be daunting.
“Children are very scared to be in a hospital,” says Fombe Ndiforchu, M.D., medical director, Henry L. Guenther Pediatric Surgical Center, Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. “It’s a strange place, and they’re surrounded by people they don’t know.”
Having a hospital environment that your child is comfortable in is just as important as having an experienced surgeon perform surgery on your child. The idea of having both, however, can seem like a dream. At Miller Children’s, it’s a reality.
Miller Children’s makes patients their No. 1 priority with the newest, state-of-the-art pediatric surgical center in the region – dedicated and designed exclusively for infants, children and teens.
Before surgery, a child goes into a “pre-op” play room, where they can relax with books, play games, do arts and crafts activities and watch TV while they wait. Preparing children for surgery helps lessen their anxieties and fears. Child Life Specialists help to comfort patients by explaining what will happen during the procedure using simulated medical play, dolls, books and other teaching materials.
“It was really helpful speaking with the Child Life Specialist,” says Fides Caingcoy, mother of minimally invasive surgery patient, Elia. “Elia was scared before she went into surgery, but they helped keep her calm.”
The Pediatric Surgical Center was designed so that any child who is going into surgery never sees another child coming out of surgery and still sleeping. There are two separate hallways to lead patients to and from the surgical suites, helping to decrease anxiety and fears of the patients who are going into surgery. The pediatric surgery team also sees a parent as a crucial member of the care team, and on most occasions, one parent is allowed to accompany their child when being given anesthesia.
Miller Children’s houses a care team trained in pediatric surgical care. In-house pediatric anesthesiologists are available 24/7 and are trained specifically to work with children in the surgical setting.
The surgery care team is filled with 40 board-certified pediatric general and specialty surgeons trained in nearly twenty pediatric surgical specialties to provide care for patients from infancy to adolescence.
“To be a board-certified pediatric surgeon, you first spend five years training in hospitals after medical school to become a general surgeon, and then you train for two or three more years in children’s hospitals,” explains Dr. Ndiforchu. “We have people who are specially trained to treat children, who know how to make them comfortable and pay attention to their needs.”
From the child-size dressing rooms to the seven surgical suites and 18-bed Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU), Miller Children’s Pediatric Surgical Center has thought of every child-friendly detail, and sees more than 5,600 children annually.
For more information on the Pediatric Surgical Center at Miller Children’s, visit MillerChildrens.org/Surgery.