Children should be separated from, and not managed directly alongside adults throughout the patient pathway, including reception and recovery areas. Where complete physical separation is not possible, the use of screens or curtains, whilst not ideal, may provide a solution.
The appearance of the anaesthetic induction and recovery areas should consider the emotional and physical needs of children.
Parents and carers should be allowed timely access to the recovery area or, if this is not feasible, children should be reunited with their parents or carers as soon as possible.
Arrangements should be in place to enable at least one parent or carer to stay with children who require overnight admission to hospital.
Where separation from the parents occurs, arrangements should be in place to allow communication and visits by the parents as soon as possible.
The MDT involved in neonatal anaesthetic care should have appropriate experience with this age group. In most areas this will require centralisation in specialist tertiary paediatric centres (see Glossary) for both emergency and elective procedures.
The theatre should have the capacity to reach a temperature of 28°C.
Devices for warming the patient and fluid warming should be available.
Equipment suitable for this age group (e.g., pulse oximeter sensors and BP cuffs of appropriate sizes, along with equipment for managing difficult airways and difficult IV access) should be immediately available and checked.
