Tablets Could Be Used for Kids Instead of Sedatives Before Operation

A recent study revealed that kids who are playing with iPad Mini before administered with preoperative anesthesia are more relaxed compared to those given sedatives.

An Apple a day keeps the doctor away or in this case, an Apple iPad Mini for kids takes sedatives away. A study show that tablets could be used for kids instead of sedatives before they are given preoperative anesthesia.

The experience of being taken away from your parents by strangers in masks can be very scary for kids so it is a common practice in hospitals to give sedative dug to kids to relax them before giving them preoperative anesthesia. Many hospitals have used music, videos and games to distract kids as an alternative to sedation.

A team of researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago tested the iPad Mini as a distraction method. The study was administered to 108 kids ages one to 11 years old who were randomly assigned to receive either oral midazolam syrup or an Apple iPad Mini before going under anesthesia for surgery. (See study here)

Here’s what they found out:

• Kids ages 2-11 who played with the tablet when anesthesia was first being administered showed a 14-point decrease in anxiety compared to the kids who got a sedative.
• Recovery room stay was also shorter by almost half in the iPad Mini group (87 minutes in the iPad group versus 111 minutes in the midazolam group).
• 81 percent of parents in the iPad group were very satisfied with the separation, compared with 59 percent in the sedative group.

Watch the video below which show a 7 year old boy using an iPad for distraction during parental separation and induction of anesthesia. The boy hardly notices leaving his parents and he immediately returns to playing in his iPad.

Now, I would prefer this kind of tablet for kids over any medical tablet. As a parent, I would be more comfortable letting my child play with the iPad Mini than giving her a sedative. Drugs sometimes have unpleasant side effects and might cause more anxiety rather than relax the kids.

I have an experience on how an iPad can distract kids from pain with my daughter. She hurt her arm while playing in church where she will be a flower girl for a wedding. She was crying so hard and could barely move her right arm. I let her play with an iPad Mini to distract her from the pain. I walked with her down the aisle with an iPad Mini in hand and she was laughing by the time we’re done with the wedding march.