Comprehensive Care for Pediatric Patients Undergoing Surgery
The pediatric anesthesiology team at the Loyola Medicine Children’s Hospital are specially trained in caring for children and have been specialty boarded in pediatric anesthesia. Your child’s anesthesiologist can provide pain control and sedation during tests and surgical procedures, making your child as comfortable as possible.
Our highly skilled anesthesiologists are precise in the treatment of each child, keeping in mind the special needs of children at each particular age.
Your child’s anesthesiologist at Loyola Medicine will monitor your child’s heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and body temperature during surgery, providing real-time adjustments to sedation and pain management medications.
The primary goal of your child’s anesthesiologist is to offer comfort and safety before, during and after his or her test or procedure. Our services include:
- Anesthesia evaluation before surgery
- Monitoring your child’s major bodily functions, such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels
- Offering sedation to calm a child and help him or her stay still during an outpatient surgery, therapeutic procedure or test that doesn’t require anesthesia, such as an MRI or endoscopy
- Evaluation and provision of care for children with both acute and chronic pain issues
Why Choose Loyola for Pediatric Anesthesiology?
Loyola is committed to the compassionate care of our pediatric patients undergoing surgical treatments and diagnostic procedures. Our pediatric anesthesiology team is specially trained in the care of children and provides care in a compassionate, family-friendly environment.
We want you to feel comfortable asking any questions you may have about your child’s condition or treatment options. We will listen to you and your child and develop an individualized plan for safely managing his or her pain.
Your child’s healthcare team will address all of your concerns and make your child’s care our number one priority. We take our patient’s pain control needs very seriously.
Types of Anesthesia for Children
Loyola’s team performs thousands of anesthetic procedures each year, helping children who are undergoing surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Our experts choose the safest and most effective level of sedation or anesthesia during a child’s inpatient or outpatient surgery.
Our pediatric anesthesiology team provides the following:
- General anesthesia, which makes a patient completely unconscious during an operation
- Monitored anesthesia care (MAC), which involves minimal to unconscious sedation for tests, procedures and minor surgeries
- Nerve block (sometimes called a regional anesthesia), in which an anesthetic drug is used on a cluster of nerves, numbing a large part of the body
The anesthesiologist will stay with your child and keep him or her as safe and comfortable as possible before, during and after surgery.
What to Expect with Pediatric Anesthesia Before and After Surgery
Loyola’s experienced and compassionate pediatric anesthesiologists recognize that going to sleep before a surgery can be the scariest part of surgery for kids.
We will work with parents to find the best ways to make a child comfortable before receiving general anesthesia, answering the child’s and parents’ questions, having the child hold a “comfort” item, and prescribing appropriate premedications for your child to reduce anxiety. Our child life specialists are available to help as well.
We provide anesthesia evaluation before surgery. During the surgery, our specialists will administer a precise dose of anesthesia and monitor your child’s major bodily functions, including breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels.
If your child has a nerve catheter the pediatric acute pain specialist will continue to follow up with you and your child to ensure they have the best pain control possible. Loyola's anesthesiologist will coordinate transition to oral and/or IV medications when the nerve block catheter is removed.
