The Contribution of Accelerated Recovery (mERAS) Approach to Postoperative Recovery in Pediatric Laparoscopic Surgery Cases

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

• Ages 6 to 12 years
• All sexes
• No healthy volunteers
• Child

About this study

Conditions

mERAS Intervention, The ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) Score, The Patient Must be Between 4 and 12 Years Old

Being tested

mERAS Protocol

Keywords

Pediatric laparoscopic surgery, ERAS, Postoperative Recovery

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

• mERAS ProtocolOther

  mERAS Protocol Patient Group 1. Preoperative Period: Preparation and Education Within the scope of the mERAS protocol, both the child and their family are evaluated with a holistic approach in the preoperative period and prepared for the surgical process; this process is structured in accordance with the current ERAS guidelines for pediatric applications. Education and Counseling The child and their family will receive detailed information covering the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative processes. The child will be educated on preparing for the surgical experience using age-appropriate audiovisual materials; the family will be informed about the basic components of the recovery process, expected outcomes, and the contributions of the ERAS protocol. In addition, regular internal training for the surgeon, nurses, and anesthesia team will be provided to increase the applicability of the protocol and team cohesion. Preoperative Interventions

  • Patient and Family Information: P

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

1. Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale

   Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (Appendix 2): This is a visual self-assessment tool developed to evaluate the physical pain levels of individuals aged three years and older based on their own reports. The scale, consisting of six facial expressions, is scored from 0 = "no pain" to 10 = "very severe pain," and the child is asked to choose the face that best expresses the pain they are experiencing. It is a frequently used, valid, and understandable method for evaluating acute pain, especially in children who have difficulty verbally describing pain (Wong \& Baker, 1988; Cohen et al., 2008).

   In this study, the postoperative pain levels of all children in the 4-12 age group will be evaluated using the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale. In each measurement, the facial expressions will be explained to the children according to the standard instructions of the scale, and they will be asked to choose the face that best reflects the pain they are experiencing. The visual form of the scale

   Measured: 7-14 DAY

2. Baxter Animated Retching Faces Scale (BARF)

   The Baxter Animated Retching Faces (BARF) Scale, developed by Baxter et al., is a self-report tool that assesses the severity of nausea using six-stage visual facial expressions ranging from "no nausea" to "severe nausea/vomiting." The faces on the scale are ordered to represent increasing levels of nausea (Baxter et al., 2011; Şişman et al., 2016).

   Measured: 7-14 days

3. Visual Thirst Scale

   Visual Thirst Scale: The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) will be used to assess the severity of thirst in the postoperative period. On this scale, a value of 0 represents "no thirst" and a value of 10 represents "the most severe thirst the patient has ever felt." This approach is consistent with the method used by Conchon and Fonseca in their perioperative thirst studies to quantitatively assess the subjective severity of thirst (Conchon \& Fonseca, 2015).

   Measured: 7-14 days

4. Children's Fear Scale

   Developed by Thurillet et al. (2022), this instrument is designed to assess children's fears based on their own self-reports (for children aged 4-12 years). A study on its validity and reliability in Turkish was conducted by Tavşan et al. (2024). The scale consists of six facial expressions. It quantifies fear on a scale from 0 to 10-with increments of two-consistent with pain-rating scales. The first facial expression indicates the absence of fear; the level of fear increases from left to right, with the sixth facial expression representing the highest level of fear. A statistically significant, very strong positive correlation was found between this Fear Scale and the Child Fear Scale (r=0.973; p<0.001). This high correlation between the two forms indicates that the child-report version is valid. The content validity index for the scale and the item-level content validity index were both found to be 0.98. A statistically significant, high level of agreement was observed between the

   Measured: 7-14 days

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

1. First posted29 Jan 2026
2. Study start15 Dec 2026 (estimated)
3. Primary completion15 Jan 2027 (estimated)
4. Study completion15 Jun 2027 (estimated)

Resources

• Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
• Other trials for mERAS InterventionStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
• What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.