Pediheart Podcast # 38: Postoperative Sedation and Pain Management and 'Fast Tracking'

Summary: This week we explore the world of 'fast tracking' patients following cardiac surgery and focus on how to best provide analgesia and sedation to such patients. Are there advantages to intermittent boluses of such agents rather than a low dose basal infusion? What are the implications of such a strategy for nursing and medical care? Does 'waiting' for discomfort prior to administration of medication work better than 'preventing' such? Are there patients who would not be good candidates for such an approach? We explore these issues with Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center - NYC, Dr. Scott Aydin who is also associate director of the pediatric critical care unit at that same institution.