Anesthesia is always linked with risk, and for parents their children's operation can be a very stressful situation. Researchers have found that both children and parents report much lower anxiety levels when the parent is present during the operation, as opposed to separating children from their parent at the operating room entrance.

Researchers from the Hospital de Sagunto in Spain split 60 child-parent pairs into two different groups, the Medical Daily reported. One group of parents was allowed to be with their child during the induction, when a child goes under the anesthesia, while the parents in the other group were separated from their children at the entrance of the operating room.

"Parental presence during anesthesia induction improves quality of anesthesia both for parents and children,” said study author Dr. Alicia Sánchez, from the Department of Anesthesiology at Hospital de Sagunto.

Many of the anxieties were much lower for parents who were present during the induction, and compliance and satisfaction levels were rated much higher.

"The idea for this trial started when my colleague was just about to anesthetize one child who was very upset and crying, hugging his mother on the entrance of the operating room and wanting her to go with him. We thought, 'why not?' and allowed the mother to accompany her child. We did an inhalational anesthesia procedure for the child while he was still in his mother's arms, and the experience was great. That was the point when we decided to create this trial," Sánchez said.