Safety and Efficacy of Procedural Sedation and Analgesia (PSA) Conducted by Medical Officers in a Level 1 Hospital in Cape Town (Original Articles) (Report)

Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) is a skill commonly required when dealing with patients in the emergency department (ED). Typical procedures performed under PSA in the ED or minor theatre setting are reduction of fractures and common dislocations, incision and drainage of abscesses, laceration repair in children, foreign body removal, and evacuation of retained products of conception (RPOC). Insufficient analgesia is associated with unwanted physiological and psychological side-effects, including increased sympathetic outflow, peripheral vascular resistance, myocardial oxygen consumption, production of carbon dioxide, hypercoagulability, decreased gastric motility, decreased immune function, and the subsequent development of chronic pain. (1-3)