Supportive Care During GI Procedures

Children’s Mercy is committed to helping your child feel comfortable, safe and relaxed when they come for a gastroenterology (GI) procedure. 

Your child’s procedure will be performed by one of our pediatric gastroenterologists (GI specialists). Although this may be a different doctor than your child sees in their clinic visit, all our providers are experienced and knowledgeable in GI procedures and your child is in good hands. Collectively, our providers perform more than 5,000 endoscopic procedures each year for children of all ages. 

In addition to our excellent doctors, we have an entire team of nurses, pediatric anesthesiologists, and child life specialists ready to care for your child. The Child Life team will explain to your child what to expect during their procedure in an age-appropriate way can also help them stay occupied with toys and games while they wait.

Your child's comfort is our priority

We follow a guideline throughout our hospitals and clinics called Comfort Promise. That means that any time your child needs to have a needle procedure, like a blood draw or IV, we’ll make sure they have options like numbing the skin, finding a comforting position, and having distractions available to make it less painful.  

Sometimes, having a simple choice, like whether to have their IV in their hand or arm, or what show they’d like to watch, helps your child feel more at ease before the procedure. 

If your child is having a procedure with anesthesia, we let them choose a scent for their anesthesia mask and wait to place their IV until they are comfortably asleep from inhaled medications. If your child needs other strategies to help them be more comfortable during their GI procedure, please let us know when we call to schedule the procedure.