New routes in pediatric sedation: a research-based protocol for intranasal midazolam

The quality assurance and improvement committee on a general pediatric unit identified a problem with sedation for neuroradiologic studies. Twenty-three percent of children (n = 63) failed to sedate with one dose of chloral hydrate, resulting in delays or cancellations. For children receiving a second dose of chloral hydrate, average time to study completion was 97 minutes, and 70 percent of the children (n = 10) were successfully sedated. A protocol was developed for the use of intranasal midazolam as the follow-up agent. Evaluation on a pilot unit revealed that the average time to test completion decreased to 55 minutes and that the success rate was 82 percent (n = 11). The nursing staff prefer the use of intranasal midazolam as the follow-up agent because of its quicker sedation and decreased duration of action.