Parents in the recovery room: survey of parental and staff attitudes

Abstract

It is unusual in British hospitals for parents to be with their child while recovering from anaesthesia, although their presence during induction of anaesthesia is now common. Parents are encouraged to be with their child in other clinical areas,1 and American experience suggests many parents value being present in the recovery room.2 Before introducing this practice in our hospital we sought to determine the attitudes of parents and staff to parental presence during recovery from anaesthesia. We invited the parents of 150 consecutive children presenting for elective surgery to come to the recovery room as their child emerged from anaesthesia. Recovery staff decided when to call the parent, with the guidelines that the child should be awakening, maintaining …