American Academy of Pediatrics Details Elements Needed for Children Undergoing Anesthesia

The American Academy of Pediatrics provides guidance to create a safe environment for children undergoing anesthesia before, during and after surgery within a revised policy statement published in the March 2026 Pediatrics. The policy statement, “Critical Elements for the Pediatric Periprocedural Anesthesia Environment” (published online Feb. 23), observes that 85% of anesthesia-related serious events in children have been deemed somewhat or almost certainly preventable, according to research. Infants younger than 1 year and children with complex medical conditions have a higher risk of injury or death related to anesthesia-related incidents. The statement recommends putting in place policies, training, resources, and an appropriate organizational structure to create a safe environment for pediatric anesthesia. Hospitals and other patient care facilities should offer postoperative inpatient care and have an agreement in place with other facilities to ensure timely access if unexpected complications occur. This AAP policy is intended to supplement rather than replace standards and guidelines of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and Society for Pediatric Anesthesia. Policy statements created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics. This statement was written by the AAP Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine.

##

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.