How to Support Young Patients Post-Surgery

Pediatric Home Care Nurses can have a positive impact on children post-surgery by offering comprehensive and personalized medical support in the home. While taking care of medically fragile children is second nature to nurses, here is a refresher to help ensure that you are providing the safest and best care for medically fragile children who have just gone through surgery.  

Provide Pain Management

The main goal of pain management is to minimize your patient’s pain while helping them heal after surgery. Practice safe pain control, using both medications and therapies to manage pain with the least amount of side effects. The right methods depend on the level of pain and include the following:

• Mild pain: Ice, elevation, rest, distraction with a book or game, physical therapy, walking, and normal play.
• Mild to moderate pain: Children’s pain reliever medications that contain Acetaminophen or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
• Severe pain: Opioids (as directed by the surgeon). 

Always be aware of the potential side effects of all medications and contact your patient’s doctor if you notice any symptoms. 

Manage Wounds

Wound care management focuses on preventing complications and promoting the healing of a wound post-surgery. It’s important that the wound dressing is replaced either a couple of times per day or per week, depending on the severity of the wound. When it’s time to change a wound dressing, clean around the wound in a circular motion, apply prescribed ointments, and then apply the new dressing to the wound. Any changes in appearance, smell, or patient discomfort might indicate an infection, so contact your patient’s doctor if you notice any of these signs.

Educating Families about Critical Care Routines

It’s important to assess the patient’s family’s current knowledge and use straightforward explanations without medical jargon. Consider teaching critical care routines like wound care, medication management, and monitoring vital signs through step-by-step demonstrations and visual aids. You should always maintain an open environment where parents and caregivers feel comfortable asking questions about their child’s health at any time. 

Offer Emotional and Psychological Support

Nurses can help medically fragile children feel supported post-surgery in many ways, including: 

• Staying a friendly presence.
• Using encouragement and positive words.
• Engaging in games or storytelling to distract them from any discomfort or pain.
• Respecting any feelings they might have. 
• Being kind and understanding.   

Celebrate Milestones

Celebrating a child’s progress post-surgery helps patients and families stay hopeful and motivated, which will keep them on track for rehabilitation. Medical milestones after surgery can include: 

• Stable vital signs.
• Removal of medical devices.
• Little to no pain.
• Increased mobility. 

As a Pediatric Home Care Nurse, you are a critical part of a patient’s recovery journey. Discover how Thrive SPC, now part of the Aveanna Healthcare family, provides high-quality clinical home care to medically fragile children post-surgery and at all times.