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Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) is an evolving field in pediatric emergency medicine. As new drugs breach the boundaries of anesthesia in the Pediatric Emergency Department, parents, patients, and physicians are finding new and more satisfactory methods of sedation. Short acting, rapid onset agents with little or no lingering effects and improved safety profiles are replacing archaic regimens. This article discusses the warning signs and areas of a patient's medical history that are particularly pertinent to procedural sedation and the drugs used. The necessary equipment is detailed to provide the groundwork for implementing safe sedation in children. It is important for practitioners to familiarize themselves with a select few of the PSA drugs, rather than the entire list of sedatives. Those agents most relevant to PSA in the pediatric emergency department are presented.

Wellen's syndrome is a characteristic T-wave on an electrocardiogram during a pain-free period in a patient with intermittent chest pain. This finding suggests a high-degree stenosis of the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery that will soon result in an acute anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI) if the patient is not urgently catheterized and the occlusion opened. This case report discusses a young male patient with no known cardiac disease with an EKG that demonstrates the classic Wellen's T-waves. He was urgently taken to cardiac catheterization and his 95% proximal LAD stenosis was reduced via drug-eluding stent. Through knowledge of Wellen's T-waves, more anterior wall MIs can be prevented.

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