Pediatric Sedation: Putting the Child First

When it comes to health care, the focus tends to be on treatment for adult diseases and problems. But the littlest among us have special needs that are often overlooked. However, one hospital is making a difference for kids and families in central Utah.

Pediatric nurse practitioner Cami Hanson knows that children are not just “small adults.” As a member of the new pediatric sedation team at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, her mission is to help children prepare for painful procedures and medical tests every day.

“We've found that kids who go through painful or anxiety producing procedures in the past without sedation, when they come back in the hospital again for different tests, they're just very uptight,” says Hanson. They don't want to come. They fight their parents. We've had kids that just flat out refuse to get out of the car without sedation because they've just been traumatized in the past, so they don't actually seek out medical care when they need it.”

After being weighed and measured, the child is quickly adopted by the team and involved in the process. A team of child life specialist works with the team to‘play’ through the process of what's going to happen and explain things to the child, easing their fears and answering their questions.

That's also important for parents like Celeste and Rob Merrill. When their daughter Kiana suffered a seizure and needed an MRI they turned to the Utah Valley pediatric sedation team for help. They could have gone to Primary Children's Hospital, but chose to stay closer to home for several reasons. One - the long drive; two - it's a fasting test, which means no food for several hours before the test, and three - they would have had to wait nearly two months to get the tests Kiana needed for an accurate diagnosis.

“Logistically it worked out much better,” says Celeste, “but also medically it was much more effective for us.”

Kiana's test didn't exactly go as planned. While the team was preparing Kiana for her MRI she had another seizure. She was quickly stabilized and taken for her MRI. After the test, she seized again. While the Merrills were afraid for their daughter's well being, they were quickly reassured by the teams' work.

“I just felt like they really cared about her and that they were really on top of what needed to happen,” says Celeste. “It was reassuring to us that they saw the seizures because then they were also able to relay what happened with the doctor, so it created this whole team of physicians that were able to really care for her.”

Hanson is grateful that they were able to be there for Kiana and her parents.

“For years we haven't had sedation available and parents have struggled with that and patients have struggled with that and have gone through things that have been pretty painful for them and so we're glad that we have the service here.”

Studies show that when pediatric sedation services are available in the immediate community, the child gets a quicker diagnosis and more complete health care as a result. Primary Children's Hospital, Dixie Regional in St. George and McKay-Dee all have pediatric sedation programs.