Ann Emerg Med. 2018 Aug;72(2):115-119

# The newest threat to emergency department procedural sedation.

Green S, Roback M, Krauss B

Guidelines for procedural sedation first appeared in 1985—a National Institutes of Health guideline for dentists1and an American Academy of Pediatrics guideline for children. Because procedural sedation is a multidisciplinary field, a wide array of specialty societies, including the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), subsequently crafted and periodically update their own sedation guidelines. These documents are not mandated by regulatory bodies such as The Joint Commission or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), but are instead initiated by the specialty societies on behalf of their members. These guidelines begin with accepted core sedation principles and include customized elements to address specialty-specific needs, challenges, and patient populations.