Child-focused perioperative education: helping children understand and cope with surgery.

It is essential for all health care providers to remember that children experience hospitalization and perioperative experiences differently than adults because of their development stage and personal life experiences. Advocating for preparatory and concurrent perioperative education and support continues to be supported in the literature. Therapeutically based play and support can be adapted throughout the perioperative setting, from start to finish. It can also promote understanding, compliance, and satisfaction for both the child and family, and can provide the health care worker with a more satisfying patient-focused plan of care.