Pediatric sedation outside the operating room.

The practice of medicine is evolving as health care is impacted by technological innovation, which has allowed the development of multiple invasive and noninvasive pediatric procedures and imaging modalities. This clinical demand has resulted in tremendous growth in procedural sedation (PS) in children. PS is defined as the use of sedative, analgesic, or dissociative drugs to provide anxiolysis, analgesia, and sedation, during diagnostic, painful, or unpleasant procedures. Many of these procedures occur outside the traditional operating room setting, and range from painless imaging studies to uncomfortable invasive interventions. This chapter describes the challenges of pediatric PS outside the operating room and reviews the knowledge and technical skills required for safe and effective care of children in this clinical setting.