Administration of Etomidate as a Single Agent for Conscious Sedation During a Reduction of Various Dislocations in the Emergency Department

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Etomidate as a sedative hypnotic agent is not a respiratory depressant, has an excellent pharmacodynamics, thereby making it an excellent agent for induction in rapid sequence intubation. The objectives of this study were to investigate the success rate, the safety, and the adverse effects using etomidate as the single agent for conscious sedation during a reduction of various dislocations. METHODS: Any patient with a dislocation, which needed a reduction, from July 1, 1999 to May 21, 2000.was enrolled in this prospective study. Thus far, we have enrolled 20 patients. After an accurate diagnosis, we recorded the pre- and the post-administration transcutaneous oxygen saturation, heart rate, success rate, the sedation time, and we looked for any adverse effects. We used 0.3 mg/kg(20 mg) of etominate for conscious sedation and if needed more; the rescue dose was 0.15 mg/kg(10 mg). RESULTS: The time of sedation ranged from 4 to 10 minutes with the average time being 7.15 minutes. There was no difference in the pre- and the post-administration heart rate. The oxygen saturation on pulse oximetry, for all patients range from 99~100% with average 99.5%, and while sedation the oxygen saturation dropped to average of 98.2%. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that etomidate, as a single agent for conscious sedation, is effective and safe for reduction of the commonly dislocated joints seen in emergency department.