Nurses administer propofol sedation to 40,000 endoscopy patients to reduce demands on anaesthetists
Cairns gastroenterologist Dr Peter Boyd says the method has been safely used in 40,000 patients and is 'the future'.
More than 40,000 endoscopy patients have undergone propofol sedation administered by nurses in a bid to cut waiting times and demands on anaesthetists.
Queensland Health said the approach was being used for low-risk patients at Cairns Hospital allowing nurses to work at the full scope of practice with the treating doctor titrating the level of sedation.
“[It is] reducing the number of staff required for the procedure to just one doctor and two nurses,” it said.
Dr Peter Boyd, director of gastroenterology at Cairns Hospital, said the hospital was one of a handful of places in Australia to adopt so-called endoscopist directed nurse administered propofol sedation (EDNAPS).
