Paediatric patients differ significantly from adults in the way that drugs affect them, for a number of reasons, including differences in their size, physiology and comorbidities. Developmental changes affecting the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of many anaesthetic drugs, particularly during the first few months of life, profoundly affect both their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Drugs discussed are the intravenous induction agents propofol, thiopental and ketamine; the sedatives dexmetetomidine and midazolam; and the opioids morphine, fentanyl and remifentanil, as well as muscle relaxants such as suxamethonium and non-depolarising relaxants. Inhalational anaesthetics are assessed for their usefulness in paediatric practice. Appropriate drug dosages are included and important differences from adult values emphasised.

Patient safety is the avoidance of unintended or unexpected harm to people during the provision of health care. Anaesthetists have been leaders in patient safety for decades. In the United Kingdom, wholesale reform of children’s surgical delivery was undertaken after review of paediatric surgical outcomes in the 1990s, and in cardiac surgery, after an anaesthetist noted poor patient outcomes in children undergoing the arterial switch operation (see Kennedy 1996 in ‘Further Reading’).

The majority of paediatric surgery carried out is for minor procedures in fit and healthy children and can be performed as day-case procedures. A large quantity of this work is performed in non-specialist hospitals. Children and families need to be able to access high-quality services close to home, and delivering care locally, where possible to do so safely, can add to the patient and parent experience. A non-specialist centre should have arrangements and local guidance for treating and managing simple surgical emergencies in the paediatric population, along with the ability to resuscitate and stabilise critically ill children of all ages before transfer to a tertiary specialist centre for either paediatric critical care or surgery. Continual education and training within regional networks are vital in maintaining skills and confidence of staff in non-specialist centres, and standardisation along with protocols is helpful in the anaesthetic management, analgesic plan, preassessment and critical transfers of children in a non-specialist centre.