The effect of an educational pre-operative DVD on parents' and children's outcomes after a same-day surgery: a randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: To examine the effect of a pre-operative DVD on parents' knowledge, participation and anxiety and on children's distress, pain, analgesic requirements and length of recovery after same-day surgery.

BACKGROUND: Very few parents are adequately prepared to participate in their child's care during a same-day surgery. An educational DVD was developed to educate parents on how to actively support their child in the recovery room.

DESIGN: Single-blind, post-test randomized controlled trial. Study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02766452.

METHODS: Between September 2011-September 2012, 123 parent-child dyads where the child underwent an ENT or dental same-day surgery were recruited in a Canadian paediatric hospital. Dyads were randomly assigned to either the intervention (DVD and standard preparation) or control group (standard preparation). Parents and children were videotaped in the recovery room where parental participation and anxiety and children's distress were measured. Data on parents' knowledge, children's postoperative pain, analgesic requirements and length of recovery were measured. Independent and paired t-tests, chi square and repeated measures anova were used to analyse the data.

RESULTS: Parents in the intervention group gained greater knowledge of and used more positive reinforcement and distraction and relaxation methods than those in the control group. Children's postoperative pain in the day-care surgery unit was significantly lower among the intervention group compared with the control group.

CONCLUSION: A pre-operative DVD can increase parents' participation in the recovery room and decrease children's postoperative pain.