Chair: Lauren Welsh, MD
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Vice Chair: Lauren Kelly Ugarte, MD

This P-POM-SIG will provide a structured, collaborative platform to support pediatric anesthesiologists in maintaining the highest standards of preoperative care. By gathering, analyzing, and sharing best practices, this group will ensure safe and effective preoperative management for pediatric patients nationwide.  It will serve as a valuable resource for anesthesiologists, fellows, residents, and other healthcare providers involved in preoperative care of pediatric patients.  We will also avidly promote the education and involvement of anesthesia trainees.

More Information:

We all complete a preoperative assessment of our pediatric patients, but how does your preoperative clinic function to help with this process?  The level of involvement we all have in the preoperative management of our pediatric patients varies hugely across the US, but our challenges and questions are often the same — Who should lead the clinic?  When and how should the communication with the parent be completed?  What’s the latest on preop NPO recommendations in peds?  Can we bill for this?  Some of the challenges faced have grown over the last 20 years due to a higher volume of pediatric outpatient procedures, newer procedures, more medically complex patients presenting for outpatient procedures, updated communication technology, a more mobile pediatric population base, and an even more overburdened health care system motivated to save both money and resources.

Let’s bring it together and see what is actually commonly going on across the US in our preoperative management of our pediatric patients and look at evidence based data to make recommendations.  The ASA made the “Practice Advisory for Preoperative Evaluation” in 2012 which did not include any recommendations for pediatric patients, and in 2022 the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (APAGBI) published “Best Practice Guidance for Preassessment Services for Children” – of which there is not yet any equivalent here in the US.

Of note, the shortage of pediatric anesthesiologists in the US right now is profound (and increasing), so more healthcare agencies and general anesthesiologists will need resources like this for pediatric preoperative management recommendations, along with our community caretakers who often also see these patients preoperatively (ex: pediatricians).

This P-POM SIG is the only group that supports communication between those who are running pediatric preoperative assessment operations in the US.  Whether or not you help lead pediatric preop efforts, we would love for you to join us in this effort.

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to collaborating.  Please email with any inquiries.