Minnesota Kids Get Laughing Gas Before Cancer Treatments
Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota has won the Innovation of the Year in Patient Care Award from the Minnesota Hospital Association for making chemotherapy, CT scans and other medical procedures less frightening for children.
Children’s Hospitals and Clinics have been using nitrous oxide, a mild sedative commonly referred to as laughing gas, to relax young cancer patients before they get an IV, a spinal tap, or a catheter.
Until recently, most nitrous oxide was administered to US patients by dentists or by paramedics treating traumatic injuries in the field, but that may soon change. In Children’s Hospitals case, the practice has been so successful their doctors now offer nitrous oxide during 20 different procedures including relatively routine treatments like removing stitches.
Unlike deeper sedatives, patients administered nitrous oxide are awake so they can move and respond to the health professionals treating them, plus their muscles are relaxed so they frequently experience less pain. In addition, the effects of laughing gas wear off quicker (usually in 5 to 10 minutes) so the kids and their caregivers can resume other activities sooner.
One mother whose 11 year old son is battling leukemia said the nitrous technique has been a comfort to both of them and Children’s medical staff finds the program is making the cancer treatment process easier for professionals and patients alike. As one said,
“I wish we could have found it many, many years ago. I often wonder why we didn’t think of it.”
If you’d like to learn more about other methods cancer patients use to relax, you can click here to visit the Mayo Clinic cancer treatment web site.
Source: WCCO.com (CBS)
Related Links: kidshealth.org
Related Podcast: How Childhood Cancer Touches the Whole Family on Blood CancerCast from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Technorati Tags: anesthesia; oncology; pediatric medicine; Minneapolis; St Paul; patient-centered care; hospital quality; tranquilizers; needlephobia; phlebotomy
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