A Clinical Audit of Escorts' Awareness And Patients' Safety Following Intravenous Sedation In Adult Oral Surgery.

Aim: To evaluate current level of safety under the care of an escort following intravenous sedation, post-sedation arrangements and to identify potential risk levels.

Background: Information and post-sedation arrangements are important to patients'safety following surgery but although there is a general consensus over what is recommended for patients and their escorts, there is little, if any, literature on the escorts' awareness of sedation and accordance to post-sedation arrangement and recommendations.

Method: Escorts of 113 consecutive patients treated in oral surgery under sedation (midazolam) completed a questionnaire composed of 27 questions divided into seven sections including demographics, awareness of sedation, source of information and post-operative arrangement. From the data collected, two scores were calculated representative of the escorts' Safety and Reliability. Data were then analysed by ANOVA.

Results: Safety scores were statistically correlated with instruction source while Reliability correlated to a wider variety of parameters including gender, age as well as information source.

Conclusion: Provision of clear written information to escorts is recommended as likely to improve patients' safety. Assessment of escorts' Safety and Reliability could provide a means for improving quality and safety of sedation service.