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colonoscopies.
LIGHT TOUCH Ethicon's Sedasys System delivers mild to moderate sedation.
Sedasys, scheduled for limited release in 2014, integrates patient monitoring with propofol and oxygen delivery to minimize the risks associated with oversedation. A bedside monitoring unit, which is connected to patients in pre-op and stays with them through to recovery, is connected to a stationary procedure room unit. Sedasys captures capnography, pulse oximetry, arterial saturation, EKG and non-invasive blood pressure. It also displays the patient's response time to audio prompts delivered through an earpiece, which ask the patient to squeeze the system's simultaneously vibrating hand-piece.
The verbal and tactile prompts gradually increase in urgency and strength when patients are unresponsive. Patients who don't respond within 14 seconds to the last verbal warning and handpiece vibration are considered non-responsive. They're still in moderate sedation, but approaching deep sedation, explains a rep. The machine's average propofol infusion rate is a rate the company says keeps patients minimally sedated. Nurses working under the direction of GI docs increase or decrease the infusion rate (set at 50mcg/kg per minute) using touchscreen controls on the bedside monitoring unit.
