Oral Ketamine and Midazolam for Procedural Sedation in the Pediatric Emergency Department: A Retrospective Study

Introduction Needle-free procedural sedation (PS) is an attractive option for children presenting to the emergency department (ED) who require a painful procedure, as it avoids inflicting additional pain either with intravenous line placement or intramuscular injection. While use of oral (PO) ketamine has been reported in the literature, limited information is available to guide ED-based use in children. Methods This is a descriptive study of the patient experience receiving PS with the following regimen: PO ketamine 6 mg/kg (max of 200 mg) with or without PO midazolam 0.5 mg/kg (max 15 mg) approximately 30 minutes before a procedure. We performed a retrospective chart review of children younger than 18 years receiving this PS regimen at a tertiary care children's hospital ED and an affiliated community hospital ED from January 1 through September 30, 2023. Results Fifty-eight children were sedated with PO ketamine during the study period. The most common procedure performed was laceration repair (46.5%), followed by incision and drainage (17.3%). All but 2 children received PO midazolam along with PO ketamine. Eight patients received additional medications due to inadequate sedation. Sedation depth was clinician-reported as moderate in 74.1% (43), mild in 15.5% (9), and deep in 10.3% (6). Procedures were completed in 98.3% (57) cases. 93.1% (54) of patients had no adverse event (AE) of any kind and no patient had a significant adverse event (SAE). Discussion PO ketamine with or without midazolam resulted in procedure completion of a variety of procedures in the pediatric ED with minimal AE, no SAE, and without need for additional sedative medications in 86.2% (50). This regimen is an option for needle-free moderate PS in this setting. Further study is needed to clarify the benefit of the addition of midazolam to PO ketamine, rates of AE and SAE, sedation duration, and recovery times.