Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine

Provides anesthesia before, during, and shortly after inpatient surgical procedures. The division operates a patient-centered, multidisciplinary system of coordinated care that strives for better health, better health care, and reduced costs of care. These goals are met through shared decision-making and seamless continuity of care for the patient, from the decision for surgery through recovery, discharge, and follow up.

• Read about the Division of Perioperative Anesthesia

Provides care for infants, children, and adults with congenital and acquired heart disease, as well as those with thoracic (lung) and vascular (blood vessels) disease. Every year, our doctors, nurses, and staff provide care for more than 1,100 heart surgeries and 3,000 cardiac catheterizations, echocardiograms, cardiac MRI/CT scans, and other procedures. Our specialists also consult on and manage the care of patients with congenital heart disease having surgery for non-cardiac reasons.

• Read about the Division of Cardiac Anesthesia

Provides critical care services to children who are critically ill or injured or who suffer acute or chronic pain. Our 30-bed Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit (MSICU) and 12-bed Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) are run by a multi-disciplinary team of physicians and nurses who provide critical care services in medicine, general surgery, transplantation, neurosurgery, trauma, orthopedics, otolaryngology (the study of head and neck disorders), and craniofacial reconstruction.

• Read about the Division of Critical Care Medicine

Provides an interactive team approach to acute pain treatment and chronic pain management with consultative and outpatient clinics that tailor treatment options to individual patient needs. The division’s Pain Treatment Center offers a wide range of programs and was the first multidisciplinary program in the world to provide treatment and support for acute and chronic pain in children and young adults. It is the most clinically active program of its kind.

• Read about the Division of Pain Medicine

This program works with Boston Children’s surgical, anesthesia, and nursing teams to identify young patients for whom catheter-based regional anesthetics may be appropriate. We then create a comprehensive plan for care that begins before surgery and continues for two weeks afterward.

• Read about the Home Analgesia Program

The Pain Interdisciplinary Committee is dedicated to improving pain management throughout the institution. The committee goals are:

• To ensure that pain management is safe, effective, equitable, timely, patient-centered, efficient
• Define the vision and strategic direction of pain assessment, prevention and management

Members of the Neuroanesthesia Program at Boston Children’s Hospital are experts in providing anesthesia for neurosurgical procedures varying from simple to complex. Each patient under going neurosurgery at Boston Children's receives care from a team of individuals who work collaboratively along with the patient and family to provide state-of-the-art care.

• Read about the Neuroanesthesia Program

Aims to provide future physicians and health care leaders with clinical and research opportunities that encourage innovation. This unique internship program targets the academic interests and ambitions of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students by linking basic clinical research with hands-on clinical work in the operating rooms.

• Read about the Pediatric Anesthesia Clinical and Research Internship (PACaRI)

The Regional Anesthesia Program is part of Boston Children's Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine. We work closely with the division and all of the surgical specialties to provide our young patients with the safest, most effective anesthesia and pain control available. As the largest program of our kind in the U.S., we perform about 3,000 nerve blocks a year, giving us an unparalleled depth of experience in this area.

• Read about the Regional Anesthesia Program

Provides sedation for a variety of diagnostic or painful procedures when necessary. Health care providers who are skilled in the administration of pediatric sedation assess each patient and determine what sedation they may need for a procedure or test, based on the child’s health history and developmental level. The team’s mission is to ensure consistent, safe, high-quality care to every child.

• Read about Sedation Services