Impact on Anxiety of a Digital Application for Children Undergoing Scheduled Ambulatory Surgery

The prospect of pediatric surgery is a source of preoperative anxiety for children and their parents. It affects 50% of children waiting for surgery and the causes vary according to age. It has been shown that pre-operative anxiety in children often leads to behavioral changes. Pre-operative anxiety is often managed by pharmacological premedication. However, there are many alternative techniques to reduce children's anxiety before surgery. The use of an application dedicated to pediatric anesthesia used from the moment of the anesthesia consultation would allow to reduce this anxiety by allowing a varied course of information involving the child in his preparation before the surgery. First, it allows an evaluation of the pre-operative anxiety level of children via validated scales. Secondly, it provides information to the children using methods adapted to their age and level of understanding. Thus, if this method were validated, other hospitals could use this application to develop a tool that would benefit the many children who undergo surgery each year.