Sedation Research in Critically Ill Pediatric Patients: Proposals for Future Study Design From the Sedation Consortium on Endpoints and Procedures for Treatment, Education, and Research IV Workshop.

Objectives: Sedation and analgesia for infants and children requiring mechanical ventilation in the PICU is uniquely challenging due to the wide spectrum of ages, developmental stages, and pathophysiological processes encountered. Studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of sedative and analgesic management in pediatric patients have used heterogeneous methodologies. The Sedation Consortium on Endpoints and Procedures for Treatment, Education, and Research (SCEPTER) IV hosted a series of multidisciplinary meetings to establish consensus statements for future clinical study design and implementation as a guide for investigators studying PICU sedation and analgesia.

Evolution of the American College of Surgeons Children's Surgery Verification Program: Implications for optimizing multidisciplinary surgical care of the pediatric patient.

The Children's Surgery Verification Program of the American College of Surgeons began in 2016 based on the standards created by the Task Force for Children's Surgery. This program seeks to improve the surgical care of children by assuring the appropriate resources and robust performance improvement programs at participating centers. Three levels of centers with defined scopes of practice and matching resources are defined.

Preventing Home Medication Administration Errors.

Medication administration errors that take place in the home are common, especially when liquid preparations are used and complex medication schedules with multiple medications are involved; children with chronic conditions are disproportionately affected. Parents and other caregivers with low health literacy and/or limited English proficiency are at higher risk for making errors in administering medications to children in their care. Recommended strategies to reduce home medication errors relate to provider prescribing practices; health literacy-informed verbal counseling strategies (eg, teachback and showback) and written patient education materials (eg, pictographic information) for patients and/or caregivers across settings (inpatient, outpatient, emergency care, pharmacy); dosing-tool provision for liquid medication measurement; review of medication lists with patients and/or caregivers (medication reconciliation) that includes prescription and over-the-counter medications, as well as vitamins and supplements; leveraging the medical home; engaging adolescents and their adult caregivers; training of providers; safe disposal of medications; regulations related to medication dosing tools, labeling, packaging, and informational materials; use of electronic health records and other technologies; and research to identify novel ways to support safe home medication administration.

Educational Perspectives: Anesthesia 101: What the Neonatologist Needs to Know About Anesthesiology.

As the complexity of medicine increases, so too do the challenges with multidisciplinary communication and coordinated patient care. Anesthesiology represents a field for which there is no required study for medical students, pediatric residents, or neonatal-perinatal medicine fellows in the United States, so a neonatologist may have never received any formal training in anesthesiology (and vice versa for pediatric anesthesiologists in neonatology). In this review, we address frequently asked questions of neonatologists to anesthesiologists to better frame common issues.

Population Pharmacokinetics of Intraperitoneal Bupivacaine Using Manual Bolus Atomization Versus Micropump Nebulization and Morphine Requirements in Young Children.

Background: Intraperitoneal (IP) administration of local anesthetics is used in adults and children for postoperative analgesia after laparoscopic surgery. Population pharmacokinetics (PK) of IP bupivacaine has not been determined in children. Objectives of this study were (1) to develop a population PK model to compare IP bupivacaine administered via manual bolus atomization and micropump nebulization and (2) to assess postoperative morphine requirements after intraoperative administration.

Anesthesia Exposure in Children: Practitioners Respond to the 2016 FDA Drug Safety Communication.

In December 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a drug safety warning stating that 11 commonly used anesthetic and sedative medications had potential neurotoxic effects when used in children under the age of 3 years and in pregnant women during the third trimester. A panel presentation at the sixth biennial Pediatric Anesthesia Neurodevelopmental Assessment (PANDA) symposium addressed the FDA announcement in a session entitled "Anesthesia Exposure in Children During Surgical and Non-Surgical Procedures: How Do We Respond to the 2016 FDA Drug Safety Communication?" Panelists included representatives from pediatric anesthesiology, obstetrics, pediatric surgery, and several pediatric surgical subspecialties. Each panelist was asked to address the following questions: How has the FDA labelling change affected your clinical practice including patient discussions, timing, and frequency of procedures? Has your professional society provided any guidelines for this discussion? Has there been any discussion of this topic at your national meetings? The panelists provided important perspectives specific to each specialty, which generated a lively discussion and a detailed response from the Deputy Director of the Division of Anesthesia and Addiction of the FDA describing the FDA procedures that led to this drug safety warning.

Neurotoxicity of Anesthesia in Children: Prevention and Treatment.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to summarize the current evidence regarding the impact of the exposure to anesthetic and sedative agents on neurodevelopment during the period of rapid brain growth in the first 3 years of life. Though much of the definitive data demonstrating anesthesia-induced neurotoxicity has come from studies in young animals, the focus of this review is on emerging human data.

Recent Findings: In 2016, the first prospective trials investigating the neurodevelopmental impact of early anesthetic exposure (GAS and PANDA studies) were published, both showing no significant impact on IQ from a single brief anesthetic.

Hyperkalemia After Laparoscopic Nephrectomy in Patients With Renal Insufficiency: A Case Report.

Laparoscopic surgery is an evolving surgical modality in children, which has been applied to increasingly more complex surgeries and patients, including patients with renal insufficiency. These patients are particularly susceptible to the challenges that laparoscopy imposes on their altered physiology, leading to marked electrolyte disturbances, including metabolic acidosis and hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia has the potential for marked impairment of cardiac conduction.

Fifty years of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Anesthesiology: a history of our specialty.

The American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2015. The Section was one of the first and only subspecialty organizations in anesthesiology at the time. This special article will focus on the contributions of the Section to the practice of pediatric anesthesiology in the areas of advocacy, education and member contributions.

The American College of Surgeons Children's Surgery Verification and Quality Improvement Program: implications for anesthesiologists.

Purpose Of Review: The Task Force for Children's Surgical Care, an ad-hoc multidisciplinary group of invited leaders in pediatric perioperative medicine, was assembled in May 2012 to consider approaches to optimize delivery of children's surgical care in today's competitive national healthcare environment. Over the subsequent 3 years, with support from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and Children's Hospital Association (CHA), the group established principles regarding perioperative resource standards, quality improvement and safety processes, data collection, and verification that were used to develop an ACS-sponsored Children's Surgery Verification and Quality Improvement Program (ACS CSV).

Recent Findings: The voluntary ACS CSV was officially launched in January 2017 and more than 125 pediatric surgical programs have expressed interest in verification.

Anaesthetic considerations for surgery in newborns.

Almost 30 years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Fetus and Newborn coauthored a policy statement strongly advocating for the use of anaesthesia in all neonates stating 'local or systemic pharmacologic agents now available permit relatively safe administration of anesthesia or analgesia to neonates undergoing surgical procedures and that such administration is indicated according to the usual guidelines for the administration of anesthesia to high-risk, potentially unstable patients'. With current techniques and advanced monitoring, preterm and full-term infants routinely undergo surgical procedures under general anaesthesia to repair congenital defects that were lethal in years past. Recent research in immature animal models, however, has shown evidence of enhanced neuroapoptosis and other signs of neurotoxicity with all of the currently used anaesthetic agents.

Optimal Timing of Surgical Procedures in Pediatric Patients.

The Pediatric Anesthesia Neuro Development Assessment (PANDA) team at the Anesthesiology Department at Columbia University Medical Center held its fifth biennial symposium to discuss issues regarding potential neurotoxicity of anesthetic agents in pediatric patients. Overall optimal surgical timing as well as a "critical window" for surgery on a specialty specific basis are areas of focus for the American Academy of Pediatrics Surgical Advisory Panel. An ad hoc panel of pediatric surgical experts representing general surgery, urology, neurosurgery, and ophthalmology was assembled for this meeting and provided a dialogue focused on the benefits of early intervention versus potential anesthetic risk, addressing parental concerns, and the need for continued interdisciplinary collaboration in this area.

Institutional Policy Changes to Prevent Cardiac Toxicity Associated With Bupivacaine Penile Blockade in Infants.

Dorsal penile nerve block is a widely used method of analgesia for infants undergoing penile surgery. Because of its potency, extended duration of action, and lack of vasoconstriction, bupivacaine remains the most commonly used local anesthetic. Rapid systemic absorption of bupivacaine, however, has been associated with profound central nervous system and cardiovascular side effects, including cardiac arrest.

Robotic surgery and anesthesia for pediatric urologic procedures.

Purpose Of Review: Minimally invasive approaches to pediatric surgery have become increasingly popular over the last 15 years. With the advent of robotically controlled instruments, common pediatric urologic surgeries such as pyeloplasty and ureteral reimplantation, which were previously technically challenging, are now commonly performed laparoscopically. It is important to recognize the unique physiologic considerations with this approach and how to provide safe and effective anesthesia for these procedures.

Critical Elements for the Pediatric Perioperative Anesthesia Environment.

The American Academy of Pediatrics proposes guidance for the pediatric perioperative anesthesia environment. Essential components are identified to optimize the perioperative environment for the anesthetic care of infants and children. Such an environment promotes the safety and well-being of infants and children by reducing the risk of adverse events.

Development, implementation, and initial participant feedback of a pediatric sedation provider course.

Background: No standardized educational curriculum exists for pediatric sedation practitioners. We sought to describe the curriculum and implementation of a pediatric sedation provider course and assess learner satisfaction with the course curriculum.

Description: The course content was determined by formulating a needs assessment using published sedation guidelines, reports of sedation related adverse events, and a survey of sedation practitioners.

The feasibility of robotic urologic surgery in infants and toddlers.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and safety of performing robotic-assisted laparoscopic urological surgery (RALS) in infants and young children, highlighting technical challenges posed by the smaller body size and their potential solutions.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed perioperative records of all patients less than 3 years of age who underwent RALS at our institution between January 2006 and October 2012. Intraoperative data included difficulties with the robotic instruments or surgical procedure.

Parent and patient perceptions of robotic vs open urological surgery scars in children.

Purpose: Cumulative evidence shows that robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery is safe and at least as efficacious as open surgery for several pediatric urological procedures. Scars resulting from robotic surgery are often assumed to have a cosmetic advantage. However, no study has clearly demonstrated that parents and patients consistently prefer such scars.

A comparative direct cost analysis of pediatric urologic robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery versus open surgery: could robot-assisted surgery be less expensive?

Background And Purpose: Cost in healthcare is an increasing and justifiable concern that impacts decisions about the introduction of new devices such as the da Vinci(®) surgical robot. Because equipment expenses represent only a portion of overall medical costs, we set out to make more specific cost comparisons between open and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective, observational, matched cohort study of 146 pediatric patients undergoing either open or robot-assisted laparoscopic urologic surgery from October 2004 to September 2009 at a single institution.

Robotic assisted laparoscopic ureteral reimplantation in children: case matched comparative study with open surgical approach.

Purpose: Surgical treatment may be required in some patients with vesicoureteral reflux. With the recent development of robotic assistance, laparoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux has gained popularity. We sought to evaluate our initial experience with pediatric robotic assisted laparoscopic intravesical and extravesical ureteral reimplantation, and to compare outcomes with the open technique.

Long-term experience and outcomes of robotic assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty in children and young adults.

Purpose: Laparoscopic pyeloplasty is one of the more common robotic assisted procedures performed in children. However, data regarding long-term experience and clinical outcomes for this procedure are limited. We evaluated the long-term outcomes in a large series of patients undergoing robotic assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty at a teaching institution, and the effect of a collaborative program between the robotic surgeons, surgical nurses and anesthesiologists on overall operative time.