The aim of this practice-based thesis was to develop the preparing of a child and his/her parent for a day surgery operation. The purpose of the thesis was to produce a pictorial patient guide about the day of operation of a child at the day surgery unit. The client of the thesis was the day surgery unit in Kanta-Häme Central Hospital. There was a need for a better guide. The patient guide includes information for both the child and his/her parent. With the aid of the guide the parent is able to prepare the child safely for the operation. The fear and the tension of both the child and his/her parent will be alleviated as they know how the day of operation is going to proceed. The purpose of the storybook form is to transform a scary event into an interesting one.

The theoretical part of the thesis includes information on the development of a preschool-aged child, day surgery and preoperative anxiety. There is also information on preparing a child for a day surgery operation and how to make a good patient guide for a child and his/her parent.

The guide was pretested by three children and their parents. They liked it and considered it practical. In addition, feedback was collected from some of the experienced nurses at the day care unit. Some changes were made based on the comments received. The purpose is to make use of the guide as soon as possible. It will be sent to the patient´s home with the invitation to operation. The intention is that the guide will be published on the website of the hospital, too, in order to ensure availability.