Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2025
Anesthesia and Intubation of Preadolescent Mouse Pups for Cardiothoracic Surgery
Published on: June 2, 2022
Preoperative Anxiety Management Practices in Pediatric Anesthesia: Comparative Analysis of an Online Survey Presented
Armin Sablewski1, Christine Eimer1, Marcus Nemeth2
1Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Arnold-Heller-Straße 3, Haus R3, Kiel, 24105, Germany, +49 431 500 20701.
Insights
Healthcare professionals on social media show less pediatric anesthesia expertise but manage preoperative anxiety similarly to experts. Further research and standardized guidelines are needed to improve children's anxiety levels.
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology
- Pediatric Anesthesia
- Medical Education
Background:
- Preoperative anxiety in children poses management challenges, impacting cooperation and outcomes.
- Current optimal approaches for pediatric preoperative anxiety are debated due to a lack of evidence-based guidelines.
- Social media is increasingly used by healthcare professionals for medical information, potentially influencing practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare pediatric anesthesia expertise between healthcare professionals on social media and established experts.
- To identify similarities and differences in preoperative anxiety management strategies.
- To hypothesize expertise differences influencing anxiety management approaches.
Main Methods:
- Two surveys were conducted: one with pediatric anesthesia experts (Expert Group) and another via social media (Social Media Group).
- Responses to 24 questions covering expertise, representativity, and management practices were statistically analyzed.
- Snowball sampling was used for the social media survey to reach a broad audience.
Main Results:
- The Expert Group had significantly more years of experience, higher specialist status, and greater pediatric anesthesia case volume.
- While expertise differed, both groups showed heterogeneous response patterns in anxiety management practices.
- Differences in institutional representativity (level of care, caseload) were noted between groups.
Conclusions:
- Social media users demonstrated less pediatric anesthesia expertise but similar daily management of preoperative anxiety compared to experts.
- The study suggests potential for social media's meaningful use in healthcare, warranting further investigation in other specialties.
- Standardized recommendations are necessary to improve and consistently manage preoperative anxiety in children.
Background:
Managing preoperative anxiety in pediatric anesthesia is challenging, as it impacts patient cooperation and postoperative outcomes. Both pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions are used to reduce children's anxiety levels. However, the optimal approach remains debated, with evidence-based guidelines still lacking. Health care professionals using social media as a source of medical expertise may offer insights into their management approaches.
Objective:
A public survey targeting health care professionals was disseminated via social media platforms to evaluate current practices in anxiety management in children. The same questions were posed during an annual meeting of pediatric anesthesiologists with their responses serving as reference. The primary objective was to compare pediatric anesthesia expertise between the groups, while secondary objectives focused on identifying similarities and differences in preoperative anxiety management strategies hypothesizing expertise differences between the groups.
Methods:
Two surveys were conducted. The first survey targeted 100 attendees of the German Scientific Working Group on Pediatric Anesthesia in June 2023 forming the "Expert Group" (EG). The second open survey was disseminated on social media using a snowball sampling approach, targeting followers of a pediatric anesthesia platform to form the "Social Media Group" (SG). The answers to the 24 questions were compared and statistically analyzed. Questions were grouped into 5 categories (pediatric anesthesia expertise, representativity, structural conditions, practices of pharmacological management, and practices in nonpharmacological management).
Results:
A total of 194 responses were analyzed (82 in EG and 112 in SG). The EG cohort exhibited significantly greater professional experience in pediatric anesthesia than the SG cohort (median 19 vs 10 y, P<.001), higher specialist status (97.6% vs 64.6%, P<.001), and a greater pediatric anesthesia volume (43.9% vs 12% with more than 500 cases per year, P<.001). Regarding the representativity, 2 items out of 4 were statistically significant (level of care of institution, annual caseload of institution). Regarding the overall anxiety management practices used, there is a heterogeneous response pattern within both groups.
Conclusions:
Despite heterogeneous approaches, health care professionals using social media demonstrated less expertise in pediatric anesthesia but showed minimal differences in the daily management of preoperative anxiety compared with pediatric anesthesia experts. Our study highlights the potential for meaningful use of social media but future studies should explore the impact of social media health care professionals' knowledge in other specific topics. Additionally, regarding preoperative anxiety, further recommendations are needed that could help to standardize and improve anxiety levels in children.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:24General Anesthesia: Overview
General anesthesia induces unconsciousness in the whole body, while the others target specific areas or sensations. It is administered to minimize adverse effects, maintain...
01:22Stages of General Anesthesia
01:20Inhalational Anesthetics: Overview
01:29Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Epidural Anesthesia
Since epidural anesthetics can be infused through an epidural catheter, all types of drugs, including short-acting ones, can be administered. Chloroprocaine and lidocaine are examples of short and long-duration anesthetics, respectively. Bupivacaine...
01:26Anxiolytic Drugs: Overview
Primary Types of Anxiolytic Drugs
1. Benzodiazepines:
Benzodiazepines bind to the GABA-A receptor in the brain, enhancing GABA's interaction. This action reduces neurotransmission, effectively blocking anxiety-associated limbic...