Quality Improvement in Pediatric Sedation

Abstract

Pediatric sedation programs benefit from tracking quality metrics and implementing processes to improve the sedation experience. Quality, safe pediatric sedation care involves well-organized, educated teams that track outcomes and constantly review events and situations that need improvement. This requires a multidisciplinary approach, an effort to decrease waste in terms of time and human resources, a focus on equitable care for all patients, and efforts to tailor care to the specific needs of the individual. Tracking appropriate metrics and making changes to pediatric sedation practice and process in order to maintain benchmarks and improve current practice can help institutions improve the quality of the sedation experience for patients, families, and providers. Pediatric sedation programs, regardless of resources, provider type, or institutional constraints, will benefit from using data to create processes that correctly identify and address obstacles to high-quality sedation care.