At Children’s National, our family-focused care ensures that patient and parent comfort stays at the forefront of the care we provide. Before a child undergoes any surgery, diagnostic test or therapy, we make sure both the patient and family know what to expect with anesthesia.
Our pediatric anesthesiologists will guide you through the anesthesia process, using their expertise in caring for the particular psychological, physical and physiological needs of infants, children and teens. They are physicians who have completed fellowship training in pediatric anesthesia, training beyond the regular course of instruction for an anesthesiologist. We guarantee anesthesia administered by a subspecialty-trained pediatric anesthesiologist. This ensures your child is cared for in the safest environment possible.
Our Services
Our specialists provide surgical anesthesia and post-operative pain management for all young patients undergoing surgery at Children’s National.
Children’s anesthesiologists provide anesthesia and analgesia for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. When a procedure, such as a MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), requires sedation or anesthesia, we work closely with our colleagues in Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology to help make the patient more comfortable. We also help hematology and oncology patients undergoing procedures such as bone marrow aspiration and cancer therapies.
Regional anesthesia and patient-controlled analgesia are available. The division will consult on malignant hyperthermia, pulmonary insufficiency and pain management. Pre-operative consultation from referring physicians is welcomed and encouraged. Pre-anesthetic preparation of the child and parents is stressed. The division works with and has faculty in the Pain Medicine Program, which cares for acute and chronic pain issues in both inpatients and outpatients.
When medically appropriate, you may stay with a younger child while the anesthesia is administered and until your child falls asleep. We continuously monitor your child at all phases of surgery and in recovery, making sure your child is safe, that we have answered any questions you have about your child’s procedure and that you stay informed about your child's condition.
Children's National continues to receive accolades from organizations in the healthcare field, and our surgery expertise is among the areas so recognized. We are one of only 12 children’s hospitals in the country to attain Level 1 Surgery Verification from the American College of Surgeons. This distinction recognizes surgery centers who have improved surgical quality, prevented complications, reduced costs and saved lives.
Cardiac Anesthesiologists
The cardiac anesthesia team is exclusively dedicated to anesthesia care to infants, children and adults with congenital or acquired heart disease. Each member of our team is a board certified anesthesiologist with subspecialty training and certification in pediatric cardiac anesthesia. The team provides care for patients undergoing cardiac surgery, cardiac catheterization, MRI and echocardiography. They also provide anesthesia care for any patient with significant heart disease undergoing non-cardiac surgery (such as ear tubes and tonsillectomies) or non-surgical procedure (such as CT scan or dental examination). Team members work closely with the cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and cardiac intensivists and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Learn more about Cardiac Anesthesiology
Anesthesia Pain Medicine Service
Children's also provides the Anesthesia Pain Medicine Service as a consult for acute and chronic pain. The Acute Pain Medicine team provides in-patient consultation for patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), epidural anesthesia and other postoperative and acute pain-related problems that include conditions such as sickle cell disease.
Children's National Pediatric Chronic Pain Program is an interdisciplinary, research-based pain program for children with long-term pain. This is one of only a few such programs in the United States and around the world. The Chronic Pain Medicine Program uses evidence-based methods that are safe, but also works toward collecting data that will uncover better treatments that are safe and effective.
Our Pain Medicine experts work with families and their physicians to help manage the pain so it doesn't "control" the child or the family. This takes the interdisciplinary team at Children's National working with the commitment and partnership of the child's family and primary care doctor to successfully manage a child's pain long term.
Contact Us
To speak with a member of the Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine team, please call 202-476-2025.
Pain Clinic: 202-476-3273
Preoperative Care Clinic: 202-476-7622