Martha Curley, RN, PhD, discusses her article in the Mar 2006 issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, titled "State Behavioral Scale: A Sedation Assessment Instrument for Infants and Young Children Supported on Mechanical Ventilation." Dr. Curley, director of nursing research in critical care and cardiovascular nursing research at The Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, is a recognized expert in pediatric critical care nursing. She discusses the development and validation of the State Behavioral Scale, a tool used in the evaluation of the level of sedation in pediatric patients requiring mechanical ventilation. (Pediatric Care Medicine, Volume 7, Number 2 Mar 2006 pp 107-114)