Minor Adverse Events

The incidence of sedation-related adverse events depends on the medications administered, the characteristics of the procedure, and preexisting patient factors. Minor adverse sedation-related events may present inconvenience or transient discomfort to the patient and, if recognized and supported in a timely manner by the sedationist, will not usually result in physiologic or psychological harm to the patient. Postprocedure vomiting, transient hypoxemia, mild hypotension, emergence reactions, and prolonged recovery times are examples of minor events. The relative likelihood of events of this type (1 of every 200 sedation episodes) provides significant impetus for effective preparation and training for sedationists to effectively respond to or preempt them. These “minor” events can still progress to more significant harm.