Our institution has seen an increase in the use of procedural sedation. We questioned if inconsistencies in monitoring during these cases affected safety risk for patients. The hospital investigated the possibility of implementing capnography monitoring. A blinded research study was conducted. Patients were monitored using the current monitors and nurses based their assessments on that data. The capnography monitor was blinded to staff. A comparative analysis of the collected data from the monitor to the paper documentation was conducted. We found that at least one episode of impaired ventilation was recorded in 55% of the cases, and 25% of those events were detected by capnography alone. Extrapolating the numbers as if we had collected data for a whole year, we estimated that we would have had at least 200 patients for whom we would have made the procedure safer by using capnography. If capnography alerts staff earlier of respiratory compromise, serious complications can be prevented. In response, we have instituted this monitoring hospital-wide for all procedural sedation cases. A thorough education program incorporating both computerized learning and instructor guided training was implemented. During this presentaiton, the speaker will share this hospital's journey to strengthen the patient's "safety net."

Section Description

We are pleased to present the abstracts from sgna's 36th annual course, SGNA: your gateway to opportunity. The diversity of these topics certainly reflects the richness and breadth of our specialty. in keeping with the tradition of the annual course, we hope the following abstracts will encourage discussions for improving nursing practice and patient care outcomes.