Paediatric day stay tonsillectomy service: development and audit

Day stay paediatric tonsillectomy is well established in many parts of the world but not in Australia. This audit presents the protocol and results of the first one hundred and twenty-five patients managed this way at our hospital. Patients assessed as being at low risk of postoperative complications were offered the procedure as a day patient. All patients had a standardized relaxant anaesthetic technique with an intraoperative opioid and antiemetics. The patients were observed for six hours postoperatively in the Day Stay Unit and contacted the day following surgery to assess any problems. The overall incidence of postoperative vomiting was 15.6%. Two patients required overnight admission. One child was re-admitted on day four for delayed postoperative haemorrhage. Forty-four of the first forty-nine patients' parents were contacted four to six weeks later to assess their experiences of the process. Although approximately three-quarters of the parents rated their child's pain as moderate or severe at some stage, all but one felt the analgesic regimen was good or adequate. Eighty per cent were satisfied with having the surgery as a day stay procedure.