Sedation policies, recommendations, and guidelines across the specialties and continents

Abstract

The provision of sedation for children undergoing tests or procedures outside of the operating room has evolved significantly over the last 40 years. Professional societies around the globe have helped make this area of care safer by providing recommendations or guidelines for practitioners. Some organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), have published a series of these guidelines over the years that have adopted the most relevant information and newest technologies as they have developed. Most of the guidelines share common elements. They are intended to maximize the safety and effectiveness of sedation by defining the appropriate evaluation of patients, recommending strategies for sedation, outlining appropriate monitors for patients during sedation, and defining discharge criteria after the procedure/sedation is completed. In this chapter there is a detailed discussion of several of the historically most cited sedation guidelines for children and a brief review of a number of other organizational guidelines from around the world.