Abstract:
Background: Sedation is the administration of sedatives to the patients planned for diagnostic
and therapeutic procedures so as to reduce anxiety and fear. Most of the sedation providers are
non-anesthesiologists. Sedation is supposed to be given by experienced and skilled personnel
to avoid complications. Proper monitoring during the sedation procedure will make the
practice efficiently, detect the complications and be able to manage the complications.
Involvement of anesthesiologists and the use of trained non anesthesiologist doctors can lead
into the better practice of sedation.
The aim of the study: The aim of the study was to assess providers’ knowledge, and practice
towards sedation outside the operating theater at MNH from May to July 2016.
Methodology: This was a hospital based descriptive cross sectional study which was done at
MNH in the departments of Emergency medicine, Radiology (CT-scan and MRI), Psychiatry,
Gastroenterology, Emergency department, and Dental unit. The study population was 110
sedation practitioners outside operating theaters. The information obtained was providers’ age,
sex, experience, duration of the practice, pre-sedation assessment form, completion of data
monitoring form, use of protocol, monitoring during sedation, use of oxygen, use of assistant,
use of resuscitation equipment, training in resuscitation, training in sedation, knowledge on
pharmacology of drugs, type of the drugs used and route of administration and complications
was obtained by an interview with eligible consented sedation providers using a modified
standard questionnaire adopted by Fanning. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS
version 20.
Results: Nineteen percent of the study participants had high knowledge on pharmacology of
the drugs. Approximately, 34.5% of the study participants used protocol for sedation, 18% did
pre- sedation assessment of patients and 9.1% used monitoring data form during sedation.
About thirty three percentage used oxygen during sedation while 35.5% had completed ACLS
with only 31% of them had valid certificates. Fewer study participants (15.5%) underwent
formal training prior to using sedation. Monitoring technique was poor and none used ETCO2.
Diazepam was found to be the most commonly used sedative. Intravenous route was used by
most study participants (45.5%).
Conclusion: Despite providing sedation outside the operating theaters, majority of the
sedation providers had poor knowledge and practice.
