Analysis of procedural sedation nursing practice in the pediatric wards of a tertiary hospital in South Korea: a retrospective descriptive study

PURPOSE: To analyze the general, clinical, and sedation-related characteristics of pediatric inpatients who received procedural sedation from pediatric sedation nurses, and to identify the incidence of sedation-related adverse events and sedation failure. METHODS: The medical records of 585 patients under 18 years who were hospitalized in the pediatric wards of a tertiary hospital and received procedural sedation from pediatric sedation nurses from April to September 2023 were retrospectively reviewed. Data were analyzed using chi-square and t-tests. RESULTS: Among the 585 participants, 59.3% were male, and the median age was 38 months. The main departments were hemato-oncology (17.9%), neurology (16.1%), and thoracic surgery (11.8%). A total of 671 procedures were performed; the main ones were echocardiography (18.3%), computed tomography (15.1%), and magnetic resonance imaging (14.0%). 84.6% of the patients experienced no adverse events. The main adverse event was oxygen desaturation (13.2%), with interventions including oxygen supplementation (12.1%) and airway repositioning (4.6%). Adverse events occurred significantly more often in patients in American Society of Anesthesiologists class III-IV (χ2=15.35, p