Improving the Perioperative Experience for Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients

Dayton Children’s Hospital shares their approach to imrpvoing the perioperative experience for austic patients. “The major lesson we learned was to listen to our patients’ families, as they are their child’s expert, to be able to tailor our preoperative environment. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work for autistic patients, and we, as care givers, must be adaptable. With the detailed coping plans, we tailor the patient’s experience specifically to his/her developmental, sensory and communication needs. After a year of this initiative, we continue to survey families to improve our guidelines and sensory adaptive care.”