NORFOLK, Va. — Many young children, older children, and teens undergo sedation for medical tests and procedures. The Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters wants to help parents understand everything about sedation.
The use of sedation comes into to play when kids need tests that require them to hold still for a long period of time, often around an hour and sometimes for as long as two to three hours. Some tests cause discomfort or pain, so sedation decreases those causes along with inducing amnesia so that children do not remember the experience.
The risk and benefits of sedation are always weighed with the risks and benefits of doing the test/procedure, and alternatives are discussed. Sedation is provided by a highly-trained team of physicians and nurses using state of the art monitoring. The minimum sedation necessary for a procedure is successfully used.
Several hours before sedation, the child should not consume any food or drinks. This is important because this will decrease the risk of vomiting during the test or procedure.
The sedation medication is given through IV, or in some cases, it can even be given through the mouth or nose.
The recovery period after sedation is 30-60 minutes. For premature or very young infants, they may need to be observed for hours or monitored overnight in the hospital.
For more information about sedation at CHKD, please contact Dr. Kelli Petronis, co-medical director, and Darlene Brown, nurse manager of the Radiology Sedation Infusion Unit at 757-668-7087.