Sedation alternatives

"The need for sedation can be decreased greatly by adequate preparation and by creating a less threatening, child friendly environment in which to perform the study" (Olson et al. 2001). In 2006, Bild encouraged the avoidance of sedation during EEG and provided several helpful ideas in his ASET News article "Alternatives to Sedation in the EEG Lab" (Bild 2006). In this article Bild states, "We recently discontinued the use of sedation in our lab and we were probably one of the last holdouts using chloral hydrate" (Bild 2006). Several years later chloral hydrate is still a common method of sedating children for EEG studies. This article will encourage exploration and utilization of sedation alternatives, and discourage the use of sedatives for neurophysiological testing. This article is based on a review of EEG lab websites, a literature review, and over a decade of experience as a neurophysiology technologist at multiple institutions.