Premedication and parental presence revisited

Abstract

Up to 60% of all children undergoing anesthesia and surgery experience significant anxiety and distress during the perioperative period. Currently, both behavioral interventions such as parental presence during induction of anesthesia and pharmacological interventions such as sedative premedication are used to treat this clinical phenomenon. In this review, we examine the effectiveness of these interventions on clinically relevant perioperative outcomes. © 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.