Procedural Sedation and Analgesia in Adults - new trends in patients safety

Sedation and analgesia may be need­ed for many interventional or diagnostic proce­dures, whose number has grown exponentially lately. The American Society of Anesthesiolo­gists introduced the term “procedural sedation and analgesia” (PSA) and clarified the termi­nology, moderate sedation and Monitored An­esthesia Care. This review tries to present a nondissociative sedation classification, follow­ing ASA guidelines as well as pre-procedural assessment and preparation, in order to choose the appropriate type and level of sedation, pa­tient monitoring and agents, which are most commonly used for sedation and/or analgesia, along with their possible side effects. The paper also lists the possible complications associated with PSA and a few specific particularities of procedural sedation.