Preparing the critically ill or injured child for surgery

The identification and assessment of perioperative risk factors in the critically ill child requiring surgery is important, because targeting these risk factors allows the creation of care plans that can significantly improve outcomes. This chapter provides an overview of the preoperative assessment and preparation of these patients for surgery. It reviews fasting guidelines, provides a systems-approach to the preoperative assessment, administration of preoperative medications, and determination of which preoperative laboratory or radiological data to attain. Appropriate access and monitoring, risk involved in the transportation process, reducing surgical site infections in the pediatric patient, and the importance of effective multidisciplinary communication and communication with patients and their families is also addressed.