The Effects of Pre-operative Magic Tricks Performance on Pre-operative Anxiety in Children

It is not uncommon for children to undergo surgery. Surgery is a threatening event that is composed of various stress-provoking stimuli. Pre-operative anxiety is a common emotional response among operated children and their parents. In the current study we are going to examine if tricks done by the anesthesiologist before anesthetic induction are equally as effective as oral midazolam premedication in the reduction of pre-operative anxiety in children before and after surgery. A successful anxiety reduction may be advantageous over pharmacological premedication by cost reduction, a possibly shorter post anesthesia care stay and by reducing postoperative maladaptive behavior rate.

Study hypothesis: 1. similar anxiety scores will be observed in children that will watch their anesthesiologist performing tricks and in those who will receive oral midazolam premedication but no tricks.

2. Similar rates of postoperative maladaptive behavior will be found in children that that will see tricks and in those that will receive midazolam premedication.