A total of 112 children were randomized to either MDZ (midazolam, n=54) or TAB (iPad, n=58).
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Twenty minutes before they were given anesthesia, one group of kids was given a sedative called midazolam while the other group was given an iPad with age-appropriate games.
The satisfaction of nurses was also found to be higher in cases where the children they helped look after in hospital played on iPads prior to going under general anaesthetic for surgery.
The study findings were presented last weekend at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in Hong Kong.
A new study made by Dr. Dominique Chassard and his team at the Hopital Mere Enfant, Hospices Civils de Lyon in France reported that iPads are pretty much efficient and powerful at diverting children from an upcoming surgery as customary narcotics.
Patients in group MDZ received midazolam 0.3mg/kg orally or rectally, and group TAB were given an electronic tablet (iPAD) 20 min before anaesthesia. Anxiety levels were assessed both in children and in parents.
The researchers measured the children’s anxiety at several different points throughout the day of surgery, including arrival at the hospital and when they were separated from their parents. Though the method is still being explored, researchers suggest that people can only focus on a couple things at a time, and that distracting them can take their mind away from the anxiety-inducing procedure at hand.
The nurses found both child and parental anxiety levels to be the same in the groups with children using iPads as with the children given sedatives. “However, the quality of induction of anaesthesia, as well as parental satisfaction, were judged better in the iPad group”.
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Lead author Dr. Dominique Chassard said that midazolam can help tiresome children’s parental separation anxiety, but agreed that iPads can greatly reduce stress and increase parental satisfaction with anaesthesia.
