Surgery During a Pandemic (COVID-19, 2020) – Part 2

Deciding if our son should have his surgery during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) was a very layered, difficult decision. To read why our son needed surgery during a pandemic and how we made our decision, click here.

The goal of this blog post is to recount our son’s pediatric surgical experience during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and how safe or exposed we felt to the virus.

Getting my baby tested for COVID-19

My nursing friends reassured me that even though the COVID-19 nasal swab testing is uncomfortable, he won’t remember it and it will probably be more traumatic for me than for him. That is the case for most pediatric testing and procedures it seems like. This is a classic line I’ve used with my patient families often, because it’s true!

Getting our infant tested for coronavirus (COVID-19) was less traumatic than I imagined it was going to be. For a detailed explanation of this experience click here.

Surgical experience during a pandemic

The protocol of leading up to the surgery was the same as usual:

• We needed to avoid certain medications leading up to the surgery
• Bathe him the night before, avoiding lotion application
• Refrain from feeding him for a certain period of time before his surgery

As requested, we get to the hospital 1.5 hours before his surgery date. We needed to park in a designated parking lot before walking to the first check point. At this check point we were required to take off our personal mask from home and wear a provided hospital mask. Then we were required to clean our hands. We were asked the reason for our visit before being shown to the next check point.

• Praise: I was impressed that they required us to wash our hands and change our masks. They did have social distancing reminders on the floor to remind people to respect personal space. Everyone in the hospital was wearing a mask at all times.
• Criticism: They didn’t ask if we were sick or take our temperatures. They didn’t require ID to prove why we were at the hospital to decrease traffic.

At the next check point we were required to show our IDs to get a mandatory hospital ID. They asked us if we were healthy, had a fever, cough, sore throat or shortness of breath. Then they made us hospital IDs and pointed us in the right direction.

• Praise: They asked us if we were sick. They had social distancing reminders on the floor. The front desk staff were standing behind big, plexiglass barriers.
• Criticism: They didn’t take our temperatures, so they didn’t have any statistical proof that we weren’t sick. They didn’t wash their hands between touching peoples IDs! That was a big deal to me. I got out our own sanitizing wipes and wiped the IDs before handing them back to my husband.

Once we got to the outpatient surgery floor, we checked in with the front staff and needed to sign some consent to surgery forms (both electronic and paper).

• Praise: They had me grab a new pen out of the box myself. They told me to keep this pen for all papers I will need to sign the rest of the day. They also had hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE!
• Criticism: They didn’t clean the electronic pad pen before or after I used it. I got out my own wipe again to clean this.

The rules of how many parent’s could accompany a child and adult for surgery only just changed the week of our son’s surgery. Before it was no one accompanying an adult for surgery and only one adult for a child’s surgery. Now, it is one accompanying adult for an adult surgery and 2 adults for a child’s surgery. Parents, including myself, were happy for these changes but also nervous with the added exposure.

The waiting room looked the same as usual. We picked an area in the corner away from people and cleaned our area again with wipes. 

• Praise: People were respecting social distancing regulations and wearing masks.
• Criticism: I didn’t see any wipes provided by the hospital to wipe down chairs or tables. I didn’t see anyone come around to wipe them either. People were still walking past people, which couldn’t be avoided due to the chairs and lack of space, but it would be nice if they had arrows to direct traffic. 

We were quickly moved to the pre-op/recovery room. 

• Praise: The pre-op nurse for our son informed us that the room was fully cleaned. She was wearing a mask and gloves. Only the necessary people came into our room to help decrease traffic: pre-op/recovery RN, OR RN, anesthesiologist, resident and surgeon. If you have ever stayed in the hospital, you know how many people are always flowing in and out of rooms. Everyone did a great job hand sanitizing when they entered the room.
• No criticisms.

I was allowed to carry my son to the operating room entrance. I thought this was a sweet touch instead of seeing him role away on a hospital bed. My husband and I were allowed to give him a kiss goodbye before handing him off to the anesthesiologist.

In conclusion, we were very pleased with our son’s surgical experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. We only have a couple criticisms, but overall, we felt very safe. This whole experience was much less stressful than other hospital encounters. I could tell that people were being extra careful, which in a hospital, should always be the case. I hope I can help calm some nerves for anyone who needs to have a surgery or a procedure done during this pandemic.

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