title: Preanaesthetic medication: a survey of current usage.
abstract: A survey has been carried out amongst the UK based members of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland regarding their practice of premedication. Ninety-three per cent of respondents (reply rate 51.7%) used sedative-hypnotic premedication routinely in adults and 84% in children. However, anticholinergic premedication was used by only 36% in adults and 56% in children. Temazepam was the most frequently used sedative premedicant in adults and trimeprazine in children. Atropine and hyoscine were the most frequently used anticholinergic drugs. The main reasons for using sedative-hypnotic premedication were allaying anxiety and providing sedation. The main reasons for using anticholinergic drugs were drying of secretions and protection against vagal overactivity. This survey concludes that while sedative-hypnotic premedication continues to be used in the majority of patients with oral benzodiazepines the most frequently used drugs, the use of anti-cholinergic premedication continues to decline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Queens University of Belfast.
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Mirakhur
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010276:Parasympatholytics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011229:Preanesthetic Medication / Q000379:methods*; D013390:Succinylcholine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D010276:Parasympatholytics; D013390:Succinylcholine