Non-Parenteral Medications for Procedural Sedation in Children- A Narrative Review Article

Procedural sedation may be needed in many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in children. To make pediatric procedural sedation as safe as possible, protocols should be developed by institutions. Response to sedation in children is highly variable, while some become deeply sedated after minimal doses, others may need much higher doses. Child developmental status, clinical circumstances and condition of patient should be considered and then pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions for sedation be selected. Drug of choice and administration route depend on the condition of the child, type of procedure, and predicted pain degree. The drugs might be administered parenteral (intravenous or intramuscular) or non- parenteral including oral, rectal, sublingual, aerosolized buccal and intranasal. The use of intravenous medication such propofol, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, or etomidate may be restricted in use by pediatric anesthesiologist or pediatric critical care specialists or pediatric emergency medicine specialists. In this review article we discuss on non-parenteral medications that can be used by non- anesthesiologist.