The Impact of Medical Clowning on Pain and Stress Level in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hernia Repair Surgery LAUGH Study.

Soroka University Medical Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Umbilical Hernia; Inguinal Hernia

Treatments: Behavioral: Medical Clown

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01622218

sor007112clit

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of our study to quantitatively examine the stress levels prior to surgery and the use of analgesics post surgery in both children and their parents following a preoperative intervention with a medical clown compared to children that were not exposed to this intervention.

Enrollment: 50 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 4 to 10 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• ages 4-10 years old
• undergoing elective umbilical or inguinal hernia repair surgery
• ASA Physical Status = 1

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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50 participants in 2 patient groups

Medical Clown

Experimental group

Description:

Presence of clowns on child's postoperative pain levels, anxiety levels of the child and the accompanying parent and the effect of the intervention on the total consumption of analgesics and on the post- surgery inflammatory markers.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Medical Clown

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Assessment of child's postoperative pain levels, anxiety levels of the child and the accompanying parent and the effect on the total consumption of analgesics and on the post- surgery inflammatory markers.