Advantages of Nurse Administered Propofol Sedation with Diprivan

 In over 28,000 consecutive endoscopic procedures in the hands of six physicians, we have seen the following advantages: 

Every exam is painless and there is total amnesia.

Rapid recovery room turnover.

Patients are discharged extremely quickly, averaging 15 minutes and sometimes faster.

Patients may quickly return to meaningful quality of life activity, including work.

There is less chance of a significant inadvertent respiratory depression.

There is less observed hypotension.

There is less observed bradycardia during colonoscopy.

The technicians and nurses are noticeably more relaxed and better able to focus on their individual tasks; they feel less sense of exhaustion at the end of a day's work.

Patients are extremely pleased with the sedation technique, benefiting the health care of the community and the reputation of the endoscopic procedures.

There has been a much greater popularity of screening colonoscopy due to Diprivan sedation.

There is clear comprehension and compliance with discharge instructions.

There is prompt recognition of procedural complications since the medication effect is essentially gone in 8-10 minutes, as opposed to the lingering masking effects of opiates and benzodiazepines.

There is less chance of drug administration mistakes since the drug is unusual in that it is white and opaque and just one drug is being used.

The start-up time to initiation of endoscopy is faster and there are fewer procedural interruptions, thus completion time is faster.

 Patients are less likely to have postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

Physicians are less likely to miss lesions because of excessive tone of the upper esophageal sphincter, patient intolerance, or failure to reach anatomic end points.

 If a person needs a second procedure, such as colon resection for cancer discovered during colonoscopy (same day using the same preparation), informed consent can be obtained very quickly.  This also holds true in the rare event of procedural complications.

 Patients are able to travel by air promptly, matching our busy and peripatetic society.  We find this particularly useful for the many patients coming to Medford, Oregon for their outpatient tests because of our leadership with Diprivan sedation!

Patients have a much better memory of the findings shared by the physician after the procedure.

 Nursing care in the post-procedure arena is markedly easier.

When a person has such rapid return of cognition and has no memory of any discomfort, a remarkable charismatic event between patient and physician has been observed.

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