Does Capnography Add Benefit During Emergency Department Propofol Sedation?

Capnography has been used as a real-time adjunct to procedural sedation monitoring in intensive care units and operating rooms for decades, yet it is not commonly used in the emergency department (ED) for this purpose. These authors determined whether adding capnography to standard monitoring (pulse oximetry, pulse rate, and blood pressure) during ED procedural sedation decreases the incidence of hypoxic events. In a prospective trial, 132 consecutive adults undergoing propofol sedation with standard monitoring and capnography at a single tertiary-care hospital ED were randomized to a study group, in which treating physicians could view the capnography monitoring screen, or to a control group, in which physicians could not view the screen.

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