SEDATION IN CHILDREN - CURRENT CONCEPTS

Sedation in children poses a great challenge, with the main concern on e of safety. The importance of providing adequate sedation to children was realized only in the last decade and a half, and relevant data ar e severely lacking. Use of potent sedative agents is not without risk. Children are given sedative agents in a wide variety of settings by p ractitioners with different degrees of experience with the drugs and m anagement of adverse effects. Controversial issues must be addressed i n this area, and appropriate tools developed to measure sedation and i ndividualize treatment based on the drugs' pharmacokinetic and pharmac odynamic properties.