Video distraction for Pediatric Patients

Specialties PACU

Published

Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

Hi, we've recently be trialing utilizing disney type movies for our pediatric patients, mostly Thursdays which are primarily ENT day. BMT's, T&A's.

We've found in our "unofficial" study that the children cry less, are easier to console, and we use less pain medication while we have the movies playing. I guess you could say we are using distraction, and it seems to be working.

Has anyone else tried this, and how did it work for you?

It's working so well for us, we have a request in for capital budget to purchase a TV on a rolling stand with DVD player.

Love to hear your suggestions.

Specializes in Post-Anesthesia Care.

We have a flat screen TV in the OR holding area for all the patients. It gives them a distraction while waiting for OR. I read that gameboys, handheld video games for school age children pre-op caused relaxation and they required less versed pre-op. I have not read any studies for Phase I recovery for video presentation. Pain management is of importance too. If the videos work with that fine, but just distracting them from the pain will not relieve it. If it works you most likely should continue to use it. I would be careful of the noise level if they are in emergence delirium. Good luck.

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