Touring the hospital before surgery can help your child see the sights, sounds, and events they will experience the day of surgery. It is a nonthreatening, often reassuring, way to learn about the hospital.

Once surgery is done, your child will be brought to the recovery room, also called the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU).

Play therapy is used to help children understand and cope with illness, surgery, hospitalization, treatments, and procedures.

If your child has moderate to severe pain, they may receive narcotics during and after surgery. If your child is in the ICU after surgery, they may receive sedatives along with pain medicines.

Learn what you can expect about hospital discharge after your child has minor surgery.

Intensive care is needed for children who have had certain types of major surgery: heart operations, organ transplants, or neurosurgery.

Detailed information on postoperative management

Common discomforts after surgery include nausea and vomiting, soreness in the throat, and restlessness or sleeplessness.

Most surgical teams include a surgeon, an anesthesiologist, a nurse anesthetist, and an operating room nurse. The number of team members differs depending on the type of surgery performed.

Your child will need to know that people in the operating room will be wearing surgical clothes to help prevent germs from infecting the surgical incision.