The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation is committed to the safe and reliable administration of every anesthetic. An area of concern has been respiratory depression in the immediate postoperative period secondary to narcotic administration. The following information comes directly from the foundation;
The APSF believes that clinically significant, drug-induced respiratory depression in the postoperative period remains a serious patient safety risk that continues to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality since it was first addressed by the APSF in 2006.1 The APSF envisions that “no patient shall be harmed by opioid-induced respiratory depression in the postoperative period,” and convened the second multidisciplinary conference on this serious patient safety issue in June of this year in Phoenix, AZ, with 136 stakeholders in attendance. The conference addressed “Essential Monitoring Strategies to Detect Clinically Significant Drug-Induced Respiratory Depression in the Postoperative Period.”
Click here to read the full report by the APSF regarding drug-induced depression in the postoperative period. After reading the report, click the back arrow to return to this site and leave a comment for your colleagues.