Attitudes of Anesthesiology and Reanimation Specialists Towards Pediatric Anesthesia Outside of the Operating Room Practices: A survey analysis

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing demand for safe and effective sedation/anesthesia of pediatric patients outside the operating room.
METHODS: This study was designed to investigate the practices and resources of pediatric anesthesia outside the operating room. A total of 219 anesthesiology and reanimation specialists (mean±SD age: 38.3±7.2 years, 50.7% female) voluntarily completed this online questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included items on demographic data, professional characteristics, type of hospital, and the characteristics of anesthesia applied outside the operating room.
RESULTS: Most respondents reported that they performed pediatric anesthesia outside the operating room frequently, ranging from a couple of days per week (47.2%) to every day (27.3%), mostly for MRI (87.7%), endoscopy (60.1%), pediatric angiography (58.9%) and biopsy (54.6%) procedures. Overall, 60.1% and 25.8% of the anesthetists stated that they use ASA criteria (inclusion of ASA I-II patients, 39.9%) and age criteria for candidacy, respectively. The professors were determined to be the group with the highest rates for the procedure (66.7%) on a daily basis, while state hospitals were associated with less frequent implementation of the procedure (p<0.001 for each).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this questionnaire-based survey revealed frequent and guideline-adherent application of pediatric anesthesia outside the operating room by anesthesiology and reanimation specialists. Together with the likelihood of professional training and hospital type influencing the frequency of the procedure and recovery strategies, these findings emphasize the need for improved practice regarding consideration of appropriate candidacy for ASA physical status and patient age as well as a uniform and standardized recovery practice among anesthesiology and reanimation specialists.