Terms & Definitions
  • Antiemetic:
    a drug used to prevent or decrease nausea and vomiting.


  • General anesthesia:
    anesthesia that affects the entire body system and causes the patient to go to sleep. All internal functioning continues during this process although the patient is not conscious. General anesthesia drugs can be administered as a liquid through a needle or as a gas through a breathing mask. Often a combination is used.


  • Inhalant:
    any form of anesthetic drug administered through a breathing mask.


  • IV (intravenous):
    the method of introducing drugs into the system through a needle, either with a syringe or through a continuous drip from an apparatus designed for this purpose.


  • Local anesthesia:
    anesthesia that produces loss of sensation within a specific area of the body. The patient remains awake during local anesthesia.


  • Post-op:
    also referred to as the recovery period after the operation, it involves the numerous activities performed by clinical staff to comfort and reassure your child as he comes out of anesthesia. Also during this period there is precise monitoring of your child’s body system to make sure everything proceeds according to plan.


  • Pre-op:
    the period before the operation involving activities performed by clinical staff to prepare the patient and the surgical environment itself.


  • Regional anesthesia:
    anesthesia of a region of the body, the result of a series of injections.