The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is pleased to release the Position Statement on Procedural Sedation.
The number of noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures performed outside of the operating room has grown exponentially over the last several decades. Depending on the patient and the medical procedure, many of these are performed under sedation to manage the patient’s pain and/or anxiety without inducing general anesthesia.
A medical procedure involving procedural sedation may seem “simple and routine.” However, as Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) explains:
“The difficulty with managing is sedation is that it is a continuum. Patients may quickly move from moderate sedation to deep sedation.”
In reviewing the key recommendations on procedural sedation, to improve patient safety Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety highlights five key recommendations in the Position Statement on Procedural Sedation:
- Administration of Procedural Sedation Must Be With Trained Personnel, Who SHOULD NOT Also Be Performing the Procedure
- Equipment and Supplies Must Be On-Hand in Case of Oversedation and Respiratory Compromise – and Clinicians Need to Practice How to Use Them!
- Early Detection of Respiratory Compromise Will Decrease Adverse Events and Patient Deaths
- All Patients Undergoing Procedural Sedation Should be Monitored with Capnography
- Recovery and Discharge of the Patient Must be Supervised by Trained Anesthesia Providers
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety would like to thank the following organizations and individuals for reviewing and providing comments in preparing the Position Statement on Procedural Sedation:
- Canadian Anesthesiologists Society
- Canadian Patient Safety Institute
- Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists
- Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC)
- Frances Chung MBBS, LMCC, FRCPC (Professor of Anesthesia, University Health Network – Toronto Western Hospital)
- Matt Kurrek, MD, FRCPC (Professor, Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto)
- Barbara McArthur, RN, BScN, CPN(C) (Advanced Practice Nurse, Sunnybrook Health Sciences)
- Richard Merchant, MD, FRCPC (Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia, Department of Anesthesia, Pharmacology & Therapeutics)
However, the review and comments by the above-noted organizations and individuals should not be construed as an endorsement of or support for this position statement.
To read the Position Statement on Procedural Sedation, please click here.