Integration of the Codonics Safe Label System and the Omnicell XT Anesthesia Workstation into Pediatric Anesthesia Practice: Utilizing Technology to Increase Medication Labeling Compliance and Decrease Medication Discrepancies While Maintaining User Acceptability.

Perioperative medication errors are recognized as a source of patient morbidity and mortality. Medication management systems with built-in scanning and label-printing functions that integrate with medication-dispensing cabinets have the potential to decrease medication administration errors by improving compliance with medication labeling. Whether these management systems will also improve periodic automatic replacement (PAR) inventory control and be accepted by users is unknown.

A Retrospective Review of Opioid Prescribing Practices for At-Risk Pediatric Populations Undergoing Ambulatory Surgery.

Objective: Pediatric patients with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and obesity are at risk for opioid-induced respiratory depression. Although monitoring in the inpatient setting allows for early recognition of opioid-related adverse events, there is far less vigilance after ambulatory surgery as patients are discharged home. Guidelines for proper opioid dosing in these pediatric subsets have not been established.

Virtual reality for pediatric periprocedural care.

Purpose Of Review: Commercial availability of virtual reality headsets and software has exponentially grown over the last decade as it has become more sophisticated, less expensive, and portable. Although primarily used by the general public for entertainment, virtual reality has been adopted by periprocedural clinicians to improve patient experiences and treatments. The purpose of this review is to explore recently reported evidence for virtual reality effectiveness for pediatric periprocedural care and discuss considerations for clinical implementation.

A Survey of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia on the Use, Monitoring, and Antagonism of Neuromuscular Blockade.

Background: Although the package insert clearly states that "the safety and efficacy of sugammadex in pediatric patients have not been established," we hypothesized that sugammadex is used widely in pediatric anesthetic practice supplanting neostigmine as the primary drug for antagonizing neuromuscular blockade (NMB). Additionally, we sought to identify the determinants by which pediatric anesthesiologists choose reversal agents and if and how they assess NMB in their practice. Finally, because of sugammadex's effects on hormonal contraception, we sought to determine whether pediatric anesthesiologists counseled postmenarchal patients on the need for additional or alternative forms of contraception and the risk of unintended pregnancy in the perioperative period.

Use of virtual reality for epidural placement in an adolescent with ischemic priapism.

In children with chronic pain conditions, the acute pain and anxiety induced by routine procedures such as dressing changes, phlebotomy, and lumbar punctures may be amplified compared to that experienced by healthy children. However, sedatives and opiates may be contraindicated if respiratory depression is a concern. In this case report, we describe a 17-year-old male with ischemic priapism secondary to sickle cell disease in whom we used virtual reality immersion as a distraction method during epidural catheter placement.

The Use of Patient Digital Facial Images to Confirm Patient Identity in a Children's Hospital's Anesthesia Information Management System.

Introduction: Patient identification errors, albeit rare, continue to occur despite the implementation of the Universal Protocol. Researchers at a tertiary care children's hospital hypothesized that introduction of a digital photograph to the preanesthesia checklist would reduce wrong-patient charting and near-miss events around the induction of anesthesia.

Methods: In late 2014 a digital facial image obtained either on arrival to the preoperative preparation area or for inpatients, on admission to the hospital, was added to the initial verification screen (anesthesia sign-in) of the anesthesia information management system (AIMS).

A Sensitive LC-MS/MS Assay for the Quantification of Methadone and its Metabolites in Dried Blood Spots: Comparison With Plasma.

Introduction: Methadone, a synthetic narcotic, is widely used both in adults and children for pain control and as a replacement drug in opioid use disorder to prevent craving and withdrawal. To support clinical pharmacokinetic trials in neonates, infants, and children, the authors developed and validated a novel, automated, highly sensitive liquid chromatography-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry ionization (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method for the quantification of methadone and its metabolites, 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) and 2-ethyl-5-methyl-3,3-diphenylpyraline (EMDP), in samples collected as dried blood spots.

Methods: Blood was spiked with different concentrations of methadone, EDDP, and EMDP, and blood drops were applied to filter paper cards.

Subanesthetic ketamine infusions for the management of pediatric pain in non-critical care settings: An observational analysis.

Background: Guidelines issued by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine suggest that ketamine infusions for acute pain management are advantageous as a primary treatment or as an opioid adjunct. Despite significant data regarding its use in adult patients, there remains a paucity of information related to its quality and side effect profile in pediatrics and how it can be effectively used. We aimed to summarize our practice of utilizing ketamine for pediatric pain management in non-critical care settings.

Radiation Safety Perceptions and Practices Among Pediatric Anesthesiologists: A Survey of the Physician Membership of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia.

Background: Pediatric anesthesiologists are exposed to ionizing radiation from x-rays on an almost daily basis. Our goal was to determine the culture of safety in which they work and how they adhere to preventative strategies that minimize exposure risk in their daily practice.

Methods: After Institutional Review Board waiver and approval of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia's research and quality and safety committees, an electronic e-mail questionnaire was sent to the Society's physician, nontrainee members and consisted of questions specific to provider use of protective lead shielding, the routine use of dosimeters, and demographic information.

Perioperative Management and In-Hospital Outcomes After Minimally Invasive Repair of Pectus Excavatum: A Multicenter Registry Report From the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Improvement Network.

Background: There are few comparative data on the analgesic options used to manage patients undergoing minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE). The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Improvement Network was established to investigate outcomes for procedures where there is significant management variability. For our first study, we established a multicenter observational database to characterize the analgesic strategies used to manage pediatric patients undergoing MIRPE.

Virtual reality for lumbar puncture in a morbidly obese patient with leukemia.

Virtual reality is an immersive technology that can provide distraction and anxiolysis during painful procedures. While it has been shown to be effective in less invasive procedures, it is underutilized in more invasive procedures. We describe using virtual reality for a morbidly obese patient with leukemia undergoing lumbar puncture.

Utility of gabapentin in meeting physical therapy goals following posterior spinal fusion in adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliosis.

Of Background Data: Posterior spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis requires extensive postoperative analgesic care. In 2014, we initiated the use of gabapentin as an adjunct for multimodal pain management in spine fusion patients. The effect of gabapentin on postoperative recovery in scoliosis patients was evaluated using the time to meet postoperative physical therapy goals.

A low blood volume LC-MS/MS assay for the quantification of fentanyl and its major metabolites norfentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl in children.

Preterm and term neonates often require surgical procedures and analgesia. However, our knowledge about neonatal pharmacokinetics of fentanyl, the most commonly used drug for these procedures, and its metabolites is still incomplete. To facilitate pharmacokinetic studies of fentanyl and its metabolites in neonates and other children, we developed and validated an LC-MS/MS method based on minimally invasive, low blood volume sampling.

A sensitive assay for the quantification of morphine and its active metabolites in human plasma and dried blood spots using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Opioids such as morphine are the cornerstone of pain treatment. The challenge of measuring the concentrations of morphine and its active metabolites in order to assess human pharmacokinetics and monitor therapeutic drugs in children requires assays with high sensitivity in small blood volumes. We developed and validated a semi-automated LC-MS/MS assay for the simultaneous quantification of morphine and its active metabolites morphine 3β-glucuronide (M3G) and morphine 6β-glucuronide (M6G) in human plasma and in dried blood spots (DBS).