Physician Mayo Clinic Children's Center Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Background: Procedural sedation for pediatric patients is most often performed by non-anesthesia specialty providers. Among the pediatric-based specialties involved, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Hospital Medicine are the most common. Despite these being ACGME-required rotations for pediatric residents, they may not receive formal sedation training. It is unknown how a formal pediatric sedation training curriculum during pediatric residency would be received by trainees or if the principles would be applied to clinical care. Objective: Create a curriculum to equip pediatric residents with the knowledge and tools to provide pediatric procedural sedation safely and confidently in the emergency department. Design/Methods: Pediatric residents participated in a pediatric sedation curriculum during their second-year rotation in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. The curriculum included: 1) six video didactic modules, 2) written exam, 3) in-person one-on-one session with a Pediatric Emergency Medicine physician, and 4) pocket reference card and online handbook. In-person sessions were conducted during non-clinical hours and included room setup, obtaining consent, electronic order entry, and troubleshooting complications such as apnea and laryngospasm. After completing the curriculum, residents were encouraged to participate in patient sedations during their four-week rotation. After the first year of curriculum implementation, residents were surveyed to assess the usefulness of the curriculum components, application of lessons learned, and usefulness in future patient care. Results: Residents completed a survey after one year of curriculum implementation. The survey showed 79% of the residents had no prior formal training in pediatric sedation, 86% found the training we provided to be a valuable component of their residency training, and 71% applied what they learned to the care of their patients. 86% of residents rated the video didactics and one-on-one sessions as helpful. 79% found the exam helpful. 71% utilized the sedation pocket reference card and 57% utilized the online handbook. 78% anticipate applying the principles of the curriculum to patient care in their future careers.
Conclusion(s): The pediatric sedation curriculum was well-received by this first cohort of pediatric residents. The majority of residents applied the sedation principles to their care of patients during training and reported plans to utilize the education in their future careers. Based upon the feedback of this first cohort of pediatric residents, the curriculum is now an ongoing component of the pediatric residency curriculum.
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