192 January 2013 H ISTORICALLY, anesthesiologists seem to be the forerunners in implementing tools and standards for safety in the medical fraternity. In the United States, since 1985, there has been a dramatic decrease in the malpractice insurance premiums of anesthesiologists. Such a decrease has not been seen in other medical or surgical specialties over this time frame. Thanks to the foresi...

BACKGROUND An important potential clinical benefit of using capnography monitoring during procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) is that this technology could improve patient safety by reducing serious sedation-related adverse events, such as death or permanent neurological disability, which are caused by inadequate oxygenation. The hypothesis is that earlier identification of respiratory depr...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Confirmation of correct endotracheal tube placement is essential immediately after intubation for general anaesthesia. In this study, we have compared upper airway ultrasonography (USG) with reference to capnography for rapid confirmation of endotracheal tube placement after general anaesthesia. METHODS A prospective, single centre, observational study was conducted on 100...

BACKGROUND Pulse oximetry is a widely accepted procedure for ventilatory monitoring during gastrointestinal endoscopy, but this method provides an indirect measurement of the respiratory function. In addition, detection of abnormal ventilatory activity can be delayed, especially if supplemental oxygen is provided. Capnography offers continuous real-time measurement of expiratory carbon dioxide....

Capnography, often referred to by emergency clinicians as end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring, is a noninvasive method of measuring cardiopulmonary and metabolic parameters that can be utilized in many clinical applications. Growing evidence in the literature in support of the use of capnography has led to increased clinical use of this modality in many pediatric subspecialties. Understanding c...

Use of waveform capnography during cardiac arrest was recomended in the 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary esuscitation (CPR) Science with Treatment Recommendations.1 primary benefit includes confirmation that a tracheal tube (or ther airway device) has been placed correctly and is providing entilation of the lungs.2 Capnography is considerably more relible than either clinical ass...

BACKGROUND In emergency settings, verification of endotracheal tube (ETT) location is important for critically ill patients. Ignorance of oesophageal intubation can be disastrous. Many methods are used for verification of the endotracheal tube location; none are ideal. Quantitative waveform capnography is considered the standard of care for this purpose but is not always available and is expens...

Although it is standard of care for patient safety monitoring in anesthesia, capnography is not routinely used for emergency department procedural sedation and analgesia. We discuss the use of capnography as a diagnostic monitoring modality for procedural sedation and analgesia, focusing on the physiology and interpretation of the CO2 waveform and recognition of normal, abnormal, and drug-induc...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of capnography monitoring on sedation-related adverse events during procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) administered for ambulatory surgery relative to visual assessment and pulse oximetry alone. DESIGN AND SETTING Systematic literature review and random effects meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) reporting sedation-related adverse event i...