Putting Pediatric Patients First

In an era of patient and family autonomy, putting patients first not only appeals to logic but is a cultural mandate. Putting patients first in pediatrics has always meant safety.¹  Today, it also means addressing the needs of the child as well as the parent. Increased perioperative or periprocedure discomfort and distress in a child would reduce parent satisfaction. However, the concept of putting pediatric patients first has not been adequately explored. Common age-appropriate concerns of children and their families and large patient/caregiver-reported outcome measures need to be defined. The tools developed and validated for addressing patient-related outcome measures for adults may not always apply to the pediatric population. Nevertheless, we can start with approaches to reduce the burden of symptoms such as anxiety, pain and inability to tolerate oral intake (vomiting) as well as improve quality of life through developmentally appropriate ambulation and ability to interact appropriately with...