Paediatric procedural sedation current practice and challenges in Cape Town

• Main Author: Burger, Adrian
• Other Authors: Hodkinson, PW
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Emergency Medicine
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/2857

Includes bibliographical references. === Children often present to the Emergency Centre (EC) with painful injuries, or conditions which require painful or upsetting interventions to diagnose or treat. Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) refers to the pharmacologic technique of managing the child’s pain and anxiety. The appropriate management of pain and anxiety in the EC is a significant facet of emergency care for all patients, especially in paediatric patients.1 This is achieved partly by the administration of sedative, dissociative, or analgesic drugs which alter awareness, completely sedate the patient, reduce or eliminate pain.2,3,4 PSA is an essential component of Emergency Medicine practice and is a core skill acquired in Emergency Medicine training programs. There is good evidence that proactively addressing pain and anxiety may improve quality of care and patient satisfaction by facilitating interventional procedures and minimizing patient suffering.5