Children require special care whenever they undergo a surgery. That is where the pediatric anesthesiologist comes in. Pediatric anesthesiologists are trained to handle smaller, more vulnerable patients – not just during an actual procedure but often in those moments just beforehand, when parents and their kids need reassurance the most. There are a host of considerations that must be weighed when caring for a child because of their smaller size. Oxygen levels must be carefully monitored in infants younger than six months. Medication doses tend to be less uniform to administer to children. And amounts of blood loss that wouldn’t threaten an adult can be especially devastating in a child. Besides all of that, pediatric anesthesiologists are trained to comfort youngsters, so good bedside manner is a must.Here to explain it all is Scott Siegel, M.D., a pediatric anesthesiologist at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.
