title: Sedation and monitoring of patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures. American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
abstract: Every available means to insure the safety of patients during endoscopic procedures is mandatory. This begins with a fully trained and knowledgeable endoscopist, thorough preparation of the unit to handle endoscopic procedures and potential adverse outcomes, appropriate patient preparation, skilled assistants, and monitoring of the patient's well-being before, during and after the procedure. The relative risks involved can be estimated from patient and procedural factors and should be determined for each procedure. The level and type of monitoring during endoscopic procedures is dependent upon a thorough understanding and assessment of the risk to the patient. Monitoring of patients undergoing endoscopic procedures is mandatory and prudent. The ultimate responsibility for protecting patients lies with the endoscopist and cannot be assigned to an assistant or electronic monitoring device. However, both may greatly improve the ability to detect patient distress at a time when intervention will prevent an otherwise adverse outcome.
mesh_terms: D016292:Procedural Sedation; D016145:Endoscopy, Digestive System / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation