Pediatric sedation outside the operating room: the year in review

This review is a survey of the recent literature concerning issues and trends in the rapidly changing field of pediatric sedation.

Clinical guidelines for the safe provision of sedation to children continue to be developed and revised. Systems for providing sedation are evolving, and the most successful models emerging are those that involve a dedicated team, either mobile or stationary, of physicians and nurses. A variety of drugs is used, and potent drugs that were designed as anesthetics, such as propofol and ketamine, are being administered outside the operating room by anesthesiologists and non-anesthesiologists. The safety of this practice continues to be debated. The reported incidence of adverse events is different in various settings and systems; however, outcome data are difficult to compare because of differences in study design and outcome definition. There is agreement that sedation is a continuum, and evidence that the depth of sedation attained during procedural sedation in children is often consistent with general anesthesia. Capnography and processed electroencephalogram monitoring have been described in sedation studies, may enhance safety during pediatric sedation, and should be investigated further.

The evolution of systems, drugs, and monitors for the provision of pediatric sedation is continuing. An accurate assessment of safety and other outcomes will be enhanced through the establishment of multicenter collaborative databases.