Pediatric Surgery Is Usually Performed

Pediatric surgery is usually performed on children either through the day case or inpatient surgical operations. The surgical operations result in several effects such as cognitive, behavioral, psychological, physiological and emotional effects. The psychological effects of surgery on children are divided into short-term and long-term effects with the short-term effects including emotional stress and need for attention. While the short-term psychological effects usually take a short period of time to disappear, the long-term effects take a longer period of time to disappear and include post-hospital distress and psychomotor disturbances. This paper explores both the short-term and long-term psychological effects of surgery on children. Additionally, the paper also explains the importance of preliminary preparations of a child before a surgical operation in reducing the psychological effects.

Psychological Effects of Surgery on Children:

The branch of surgery that deals with the performance of surgery on children is known as pediatric surgery and consists of several sub-specialties which include pediatric orthopedic and cardiothoracic surgery among others. For adults with diseases that started during their childhood, treatment is sometimes done by a pediatric surgeon in a pediatric hospital. These pediatric surgeons and hospitals are involved in treating these kinds of adults because they are experienced in treating diseases that started during childhood as compared to adult facilities. For instance, heart problems that were originally identified during childhood and are normally found in the pediatric population are some of the examples of these illnesses. Surgery on children is usually performed either through the day case or inpatient surgery with most of the pediatric surgeries being done in day cases.

Since the beginning of the 20th Century, there have been increasing arguments advocating for day case surgeries on children rather than the inpatient surgeries. These arguments and propositions have led to the increase of day case surgical operations in children to fifty percent. However, there have been additional arguments that support the lessening of the costs of the day case surgical operations for better convenience for the parents and less psychological effects on the child. This is because surgical operations in children not only result in emotional and cognitive effects but it also results in psychological effects on the child. Additionally, the stress of pediatric surgery results in several other changes or effects such as the interpersonal, physiological and behavioral effects. The psychological effects are either short-term or long-term with severe cases resulting in psychological effects that last for months or years. According to research, children suffer various psychological effects after surgery though these effects reduces significantly with time and can even disappear within two weeks in some cases.

For children who undergo inpatient surgical operations, they are found to experience more psychological effects because of staying in the hospital as compared to those who undergo day case surgical operations. Prior to surgery, children show some negative psychological reactions which can sometimes be severe, persistent and harmful (Justus et al., 2006). It is therefore important to provide preliminary explanations to children before they undergo surgery without providing and false information concerning the surgery. This is because the general negative surgical experience may affect a child's usual, joyful, confidence and emotional status. Children who undergo inpatient surgical operations are likely to experience a re-emergence of post-hospital distress at a later time or in different forms.

Short-term Psychological Effects of Pediatric Surgery:

As mentioned earlier, there are tow broad categories of psychological effects of surgery on children which are the short-term and long-term effects. These categories of effects are usually determined by the kind of surgery conducted on the child and the disease the child was suffering from. Additionally, the short-term or long-term psychological effects of surgery on children are also determined by whether inpatient or day case surgical operation was carried out. In most cases, inpatient surgical operations on children results in long-term or more psychological effects. Short-term psychological effects usually disappear after a short period of time sometimes within weeks or few months. While the type of pediatric surgery and disease determines the psychological effect, the most common short-term psychological effects of surgery on children are:

Emotional Stress:

Emotional stress is one of the general and common short-term psychological effects that a child experiences after undergoing surgery. Regardless of the surgical operation that is conducted on this child, emotional stress is usually the first psychological effect of the operation. Breastfeeding children who have undergone a heart transplant surgery are the most vulnerable patients to experience emotional stress. This is because the heart/organ transplant surgery usually requires restricted or less breastfeeding and more of feeding by the feeding tube. As these children feed by either the feeding tube or IV only, they experience extra emotional stress (Cadena, 2007).

However, emotional stress is also closely associated with the other surgical operations on children and is usually indicated by eating difficulties, sleeping problems, anxiety and degeneration to initial levels of functioning. The rate of emotional stress is also different on children who undergo preliminary preparations as compared to those who don't receive any explanations prior to the surgical operation. Preliminary preparation for children prior to a surgical operation helps in reducing the severity of emotional stress that the child will experience after undergoing surgery.

Need for Extra Attention:

This is the second short-term psychological effect of surgery on children and usually occurs in patients who have undergone inpatient kind of surgery. While this effect is also experienced by children who undergo day case surgery, the trend is higher for patients who undergo inpatient surgery because of the effect of being in the hospital. According to research, the need of extra attention by children who have undergone inpatient surgical operations is dependent on their length of stay in the hospital. The longer the child stays in hospital, the more the attention they need after discharge from the hospital because of the disturbing hospital environment. These children also feel the need for extra attention because of the separation from their parents that they experience while in hospital. The need for extra attention may disappear after a few weeks but it sometimes takes up to three months to disappear after discharge from hospital (Campbell, Scaife & Johnstone, n.d.). The severity of the emotional stress that children experience after undergoing surgery is the other determining factor of the need for extra attention by these children.

Long-term Psychological Effects of Pediatric Surgery:

These long-term psychological effects of surgery on children are the effects that are persist for a longer period of time after the child has undergone surgery. As mentioned earlier, children who undergo inpatient surgical operations are the most vulnerable patients to experience long-term psychological effects. However, the short-term psychological effects are likely to develop into long-term effects if necessary measures are not taken to reduce their duration. For instance, emotional stress is likely to develop to a long-term psychological effect if the child is not adequately prepared prior to the surgical operation. Additionally, this effect may also develop to a long-term effect if parents or guardians don't provide enough support to the child after the surgical operation. Some of the most common long-term psychological effects of surgery on children include:

Post-hospital Distress:

This is one of the most common long-term psychological effects of surgery on children particularly for those who undergo inpatient surgical operations. Post-hospital distress persists for several months after discharge depending on the complexity of the surgical operation and the disturbing hospital environment. Actually, emotional stress that children experience after a surgical operation can develop to post-hospital distress if the child does not receive adequate preliminary preparation and enough support from parents. Additionally, post-hospital distress is also determined by the length of stay in the hospital with the longer the stay, the higher the chances of experiencing post-hospital distress. Post-hospital distress due to a surgical operation may result in a child avoiding upcoming encounters in medical care.

Cognitive and Psychomotor Disturbance:

This is the other long-term psychological effect of surgery on children particularly those who undergo heart transplant surgical operations. Similar to the post-hospital distress, cognitive and psychomotor disturbance is usually as a result of extra medical treatments and longer stays in hospital. According to research, patients who undergo complex pediatric surgical operations are likely to exhibit signs of cognitive or psychomotor disturbance (Todaro et al., n.d.). The cognitive and psychomotor disturbance is also as a result of the surgical procedures that a child goes through in the inpatient surgical operations.