About one-third of the cases at our facility are children, owing to the large volume of ENT procedures we handle. Here are five things we've done to ensure the children and their parents are as comfortable as possible on surgery day.

• We use the services of a board-certified pediatric anesthesiologist to cover these cases.
• Stuffed animals, video games and movies are available for both pre- and post-op enjoyment. We bought PlayStation 2 for some of the pre-op rooms (pictured) the game system also plays DVD movies.
• We offer to give tours of our center in the days before surgery for children and their parents.
• Even if there's no time for a tour, we hand out an information booklet pre-op that's designed for both parents and kids.
• Parents are allowed in recovery almost immediately post-op; children have beds separate from the rest of the patients.

Pam Ertel, RN, BSN
Administrative Director
Reading Hospital Surgicenter at Spring Ridge
Wyomissing, Pa.
writeMail("ertelp@readinghospital.org")