Street Address
New Children's Hospital
Stenbäckinkatu 9, Helsinki
Main Entrance, 3rd floor
Mailing address
PO Box 347
00029 HUS
Same-day cancellations, tel. 050 428 7337 (Mon–Fri, 7:00–15:00).
Treatment Planning Unit (cancelling and rescheduling appointments).
Nurse Manager Heli Järvelä, heli.jarvela@hus.fi
The state of the art Operating and Anesthesia Ward includes ten operating rooms, of which three are for ambulatory surgery. In addition to the aforementioned, the ward includes a cardiac catheterization laboratory, a preparation room, and two recovery rooms.
The Operating and Anesthesia Ward performs pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, ear surgery, and provides treatment for various children's urological, neurosurgical, orthopedic, or traumatological issues. New Children's Hospital holds national responsibilities in e.g. open heart surgeries and organ transplantations, which are reflected in the ward’s operations. Patients at the ward range from newborn babies to 16-year-old teenagers. The Operating and Anesthesia Ward is in constant emergency readiness to provide urgent care whenever it is needed.
For examinations that require the child or adolescent to be anasthetised, the ward will provide anesthesia services. A nurse trained in pain management is available to assist at all wards in the New Children's Hospital.
Arriving for surgery or a pre-surgery visit straight from home
Most children and adolescents arrive to their procedure straight from home. The professional staff at the Operating and Anesthesia Ward will carefully prepare the patients for the procedure either at a pre-surgery visit or by calling one of the parents a few days before the procedure. The pre-surgery visit is scheduled if the child’s health condition or the magnitude of the procedure requires it.
Patients arrive to the Operating and Anesthesia Ward on the procedure day at a pre-planned time, which is usually an hour before the scheduled operating time. The staff at the ward will prepare the patient for the procedure and anesthesia. A parent can stay with the child until they fall asleep.
After the procedure, the child is transferred to the recovery room where the parent can join them as soon as the child starts waking up from anesthesia. Inpatient wards provide further care after recovery room monitoring.
Ambulatory surgery
The Operating and Anesthesia Ward also offers smaller pediatric surgical procedures, which are carried out in ambulatory surgery. Such procedures include ear and eye procedures, various endoscopic procedures, minor plastic surgical and urological procedures. Ambulatory surgery also covers removal of fixation materials used in treatment of bone fractures, and making orthopedic casts and changing bandages while the patient is anesthetized.
The parent is allowed to stay next to the child until the child falls asleep, and can join the child soon after they have awoken. The child will be discharged directly from the recovery room around 2 to 4 hours after the procedure depending on the child’s condition.