The NICE Guidelines and Pediatric Sedation in the United Kingdom

Pediatric procedural sedation is required for children across the globe in a wide variety of circumstances. In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is a government organization whose purpose is to provide guidelines to help ensure that patients receive effective, good-value healthcare across the whole of the National Health Service. In 2010 NICE published a guideline for the use of pediatric sedation. The overarching aims were to review the safety and efficacy of sedation for common procedures and to form a consensus view on the necessary resources to do this safely. This chapter summarizes the key recommendations and describes how pediatric sedation has since evolved in the UK.