ProSed Australasia: A database of procedural sedation practices and outcomes in Australasian Emergency Departments

Procedural sedation involves the administration of sedative medications to facilitate a painful or intolerable procedure. It is commonly performed in emergency departments for reduction of a range of orthopaedic injuries, to facilitate cardioversion for tachyarrhythmias, amongst other uses. The usual practice involves one clinician performing sedation, another clinician performing a procedure, and a nurse assisting with medications, monitoring and documentation. It is generally performed in a resuscitation bay to be prepared for any complications that may arise. Procedural sedation is commonly performed in Australasian emergency departments however the evidence base for the practice of it is not as robust as many other areas. Drugs used for procedural sedation have changed over time with introduction of newer agents, however there remains a lack of evidence as to best practices. As such the administration of procedural sedation varies widely with significant variation within departments and even wider variation internationally. We are establishing a database of all procedural sedation performed at our hospital with a view to expanding this database state-wide and eventually throughout Australasia. This large dataset will allow us to analyse the sedation performed and draw associations between the patients involved, the medications used, adverse events, and procedure success rates.