Procedural Sedation

Course overview

Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) is performed across a wide range of clinical settings, from emergency departments and endoscopy suites to radiology and ambulatory care. Nurses play a central role in every phase of the sedation experience: assessing patients before the procedure, monitoring them during, and guiding them safely through recovery. Yet the skills required for safe sedation practice are nuanced, fast-moving, and high-stakes. This course takes nurses through all the core competencies of procedural sedation in a readable, practical format. We begin with the foundations: what PSA is, how the sedation continuum works, and what your role looks like on the team. We then move into pre-procedure assessment and preparation, including risk stratification, airway evaluation, and fasting guidelines. The course takes a deep dive into monitoring, with particular emphasis on capnography, a tool that can detect respiratory compromise well before pulse oximetry catches it. We cover the pharmacologic agents used for sedation in detail, including dosing, reversal, and key clinical considerations for both adult and pediatric patients. Finally, we address adverse event recognition, special population care, and discharge criteria. By the end of this course, you will feel more confident, more prepared, and better equipped to keep your patients safe during one of the more complex nursing responsibilities in clinical practice. Learning Objectives By the end of this course, the participant will be able to: Describe the sedation continuum and distinguish the four levels of sedation as defined by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Conduct a systematic pre-sedation assessment, including ASA risk classification, airway evaluation, and fasting status review. Interpret capnographic waveform patterns and initiate appropriate nursing interventions in response to abnormal findings. Describe the pharmacologic agents commonly used for procedural sedation, including key dosing considerations, adverse effects, and reversal agents for adult and pediatric patients. Recognize and respond to common adverse events associated with procedural sedation, including respiratory depression, apnea, laryngospasm, and bronchospasm. Apply evidence-based post-procedure monitoring and discharge criteria to ensure safe patient recovery following procedural sedation.