title: Safety and comfort during sedation for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
abstract: Sedation during diagnostic or therapeutic procedures must be safe and comfortable for patients. To achieve this, additional suitably qualified staff must be available throughout the procedure to administer sedation and monitor the patient. Anaesthesiologists possess the necessary knowledge and skills to perform sedation safely but are often unavailable. Non-anaesthesiologists performing sedation should be fully trained in the physiology of sedation, the pharmacology of sedatives and analgesics, the monitoring of patients, and in airway support, ventilatory care, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The presence of an anaesthesiologist is desirable when dealing with patients at high-risk of complications. Good sedation practice involves presedation assessment and optimal selection of patients, careful monitoring and support from dedicated staff, and adherence to recovery and discharge criteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 30 Gascoigne Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled; D002648:Child; D002983:Clinical Competence; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D004777:Environment; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D017751:Safety Management
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives