Improvement in the duration of pre-operative fasting in children

Abstract

Introduction: Source of discomfort and dissatisfaction, the rules of pre-operative fasting have evolved a lot in recent years. Objective: To evaluate the duration of preoperative fasting in children and the degree of parental support for this strategy. Materials and Methods: Prospective mono-centric study on the implementation of a preoperative fasting strategy in children. Pediatric surgery department of the Teaching University Hospital (TUH) of Sidi-Bel-Abbès over a period of three years from July 2015 to June 2018. Included were all children from 6 months-15 years, who are asked the indication of anesthesia for minor surgery. We gathered the respect and understanding of the parents of preoperative fasting. Results: One thousand three children were included in the study, the mean age was: 62.01 ± 44.14 months, the sex ratio was 3.6/1 with male predominance. The majority of children were under six years old. The socio-cultural level of parents was medium to high in 88.4% of cases. The mean duration of preoperative fasting was 6.9 ± 4.16 hours and ranged from 2 hours to more than 11 hours. Almost 70% of children had a six-hour fast during the second year. Discussion: In our work, the vast majority of parents respected the pre-op fasting of their children. The improvement in the duration of preoperative fasting was done through a follow-up protocol by the entire pediatric surgery team. The application of the rules of fasting by parents must be strict and simple.