Pediatric Sedation
Often, when conducting tests and procedures that require a child to remain still in a certain position for several minutes – or several hours – sedation is used to help the child relax and minimize their anxiety. Sedation combined with pain medication is also used to keep a child comfortable during a painful procedure.
Depending on the necessary level of comfort, sedation can be:
- Minimal, in which the child is awake and can respond to questions;
- Moderate, in which the child is in and out of consciousness and, eventually, awoken by a sound or a touch; or
- Deep, in which the child is unconscious throughout the procedure and doesn’t respond
At KIDZ Medical Services, our highly trained pediatric specialists determine the most appropriate inpatient and outpatient sedation plan for our infant, child, and adolescent patients. Sedation medications are then administered either orally, intranasally (spray injected into your child’s nostril), intramuscularly (injected into your child’s muscle), or intravenously (injected into your child’s vein).
The medications and levels of sedation are determined based on your child’s individual needs and developmental level, as well as the invasiveness of the particular procedure or the duration of the test.
Our doctors use multiple measures to help your child tolerate their procedure. This includes preparation, distraction, and teaching techniques.
To learn more about our pediatric sedation techniques, speak with your KIDZ Medical Services specialist.
