Capnography Monitoring for Patients Undergoing Moderate Sedation: An SGNA Fellowship Project

The purpose of this Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates Fellowship project was to determine whether capnography is more accurate than oximetry in identifying symptoms of respiratory depression in patients undergoing moderate sedation. Capnography provides an early warning of respiratory depression and airway compromise, especially when the medications used for sedation include opiates and benzodiazepines. It is a standard of care according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists that should be adopted in order to provide the safest possible environment for the delivery of moderate sedation. During this project, the nursing staff were educated on the importance and usage of capnography. Evidence was gathered that helped show that by using capnography, nurses were able to identify signs of respiratory depression earlier and more frequently than with the use of oximetry and cardiac monitoring alone.