PSSS – Pediatric Sedation State Scale

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Safe and efficacious procedural sedation practices have always been a goal of hospital care at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH).  Procedural sedation occurs in a wide variety of hospital settings; these areas include Radiology (Interventional Radiology, CT, and Nuclear Medicine), Dentistry, Oral Surgery/Plastics, Otolaryngology, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute-Boston Children’s Hospital (DFCI-BCH) Jimmy Fund Clinic.  The pediatric sedation regimens in these settings can vary considerably both in terms of the type of provider overseeing the sedative procedures and the extent to which standard protocols adequately achieve an appropriate sedated “state” over time. Patient “state” is defined using a combination of behavioral observations along with the presence or absence of side effects from the sedative agents used.  The purpose of this study, using expert observational analysis, is to validate an objective Pediatric Sedation State Scale (PSSS) that can quantifiably identify the achievement and maintenance of a safe and effective sedative “state” in the pediatric patient across a range of settings, procedures, and providers. Application of this scale will help improve procedural sedation practice quality and safety at BCH and, ultimately, other healthcare centers, thereby creating a higher level of satisfaction for patients, family, and health care providers.

Projects Status: 

Enrollment has finished and data from that collection effort in the process of being analyzed.

Approved Study Materials:

Our Collaborators:

Validation of the Pediatric Sedation State Scale (PSSS) will occur initially in the following clinics, with sedation providers as co-investigators, at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic.

  • Interventional Radiology: Floreen Knight, RN, BSN
  • Dentistry: Isabelle Chase, DDS
  • Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: Hannah Desrochers, RN
  • Otolaryngology: Susan Keuker, MSN, FNP
  • Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Jimmy Fund Clinic: Jeanine McManus