Journal of pediatric nursing
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Although many hospitals offer a surgical preparation program to children and families, minimal research has been conducted specifically on preparation by child life specialists. The purpose of this double-blind intervention study was to determine if children prepared for day surgery by a child life specialist exhibited less anxiety than those who received routine standard of care. One hundred forty-two children, aged between 5 and 11 years old, undergoing elective otolaryngology surgery completed the study. ⋯ The increase in anxiety scores in the nonintervention group suggests that children could benefit from preoperative preparation. Health professionals, including nurses, may impact children's abilities to cope with a surgical process. The information in this study will be useful in deciding whether all children, not just those with a perceived need, should be prepared prior to an elective day surgery.
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Meta Analysis
Effective weight loss for overweight children: a meta-analysis of intervention studies.
Childhood overweight has increased in the United States. Success of weight-loss programs has been limited (Barlow, S. E., & Dietz, W. ⋯ The interventions had a significant positive effect on weight-loss average d = 0.95, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.79 to 1.11. Limited interventional studies with effective long-term maintenance of weight loss in children are available in the literature. However, there are effective methods for weight loss in children.
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As part of a larger study that examined pain experience, pain management, and pain outcomes among children with sickle cell disease, functional status (sleep, food intake, and activity levels) was examined during hospitalization for acute painful episodes. Children were asked to rate the amount of pain they experienced as well as the amount of time they slept, the amount of food they ate, and the amount of activity they had everyday. Children reported high levels of pain, which showed only a small decrease throughout hospitalization, and had disrupted sleep and wake patterns, decreased food intake, and decreased activity levels. Nurses need to routinely monitor functional status during acute painful episodes so that strategies to promote adequate sleep, food intake, and activity may be incorporated to minimize long-term negative outcomes in children with sickle cell disease.
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The purpose of this study was to describe a population of infants undergoing cardiac surgery at a regional tertiary medical center and the relationship between age, weight, number of other diagnoses, and length of stay in the hospital and presence of complications. Nearly two thirds of the infants in the sample (n = 551; age, birth to 365 days) were younger than 28 days with a modal weight of 3.2 kg. There were 56 defects in the infants and 152 operative procedures studied. ⋯ As operative age increased by 1 day, the odds of complications decreased by 0.63%. The findings from this study can be used as evidence to support care that nurses give to neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery. These findings provide support for integration of this information into the informed consent process.
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Review
Child-to-child unintentional injury and death from firearms in the United States: what can be done?
Children are unintentionally killing and injuring other children at an alarming rate in the United States owing to the accessibility of firearms. Firearms are found in 33-40% of American households with children. Many of those firearms are stored in an unsafe manner, loaded and unlocked, leaving children vulnerable to injury. Health care professionals dedicated to the well-being of the pediatric population must take an active role in protecting our nation's children from unnecessary injury and death owing to the unsafe storage of firearms.