Dancing with the White Rabbit

Carly Turner English 102 Polliard May 5th, 2011 Dancing With The White Rabbit People go chthonic sedation all the time. They jump into the rabbit hole to receive colonoscopies, plastic surgery, dental work and some other various health check procedures. Todays world has become accustomed to regular use of sedation drugs however they do non realize just how dangerous they stub be. There atomic number 18 galore(postnominal) factors to be taken into account when someone is put under. Proprofol (Diprivan), a drug that is used to induce sedation, which is the courtship of many a(prenominal) another(prenominal) medical malpractices and deaths, is non supervised enough in the medical community.Propofol is one of the most astray used forms of anesthesia (Nytimes. com). It was invented 20 to 25 years ago (News Week). It has multiple benefits over cosmopolitan anesthesia. strange general anesthesia, propofol has rapid onsets. If you try to count backward from 100 after its inje cted, you dont get to 97, avers Dr. Wischmeyer, a University of carbon monoxide gas Anesthesiologist (Wall roadway Journal). It also al paltrys patients to recover and return to baseline activities such as eating and respiration on their own faster. In addition, it set up result in less nausea and vomiting in patients (Ismp. rg). Because of this many practioners retrieve a false sense of security when using propofol. It can be denigratory and even deadly if the person who is administering it is non trained in drugs that cause deep sedation and general anesthesia. On the labeling of Diprivan (Propofol), it is intended for general anesthesia or monitored anesthesia help sedation, meaning that that drug should only be administered by people trained in general anesthesia and not mixed in the procedure being done. Propofol is an exact science. Dosing needs to be based on the patients tolerance to the drug.A number of factors including the age, weight, and how hydrated the person is factors into the efficiency of the drug (News Week). The tolerance can vary and can change easily. Also, for a patient who uses it the first time, itll be much more potent but for a patient who uses it often it stays in the tissues and creates a tolerance to the drug (Inside operating theater). The possible side effects, are changes in moods and emotions, dizziness, drowsiness, and a lack of coordination (Drugs. com). The harsher effect is that a patient can go from breathing commonly to being in respiratory arrest in seconds, even at what seems like a low dose.There are also no reversal agents to propofol, which means that the drugs adverse effects involve to be treated while the drug is being metabolized in the body (Inside Surgery). Considering all of these variables this makes workings with propofol knotty and somewhat unpredictable, even for a trained professional. If a patient isnt monitored closely enough by a person trained in sedation while on propofol then they ca n cursorily go into respiratory arrest and thus get brain damage or die from not enough oxygen to the organs and brain (Ismp. rg). During a procedure, a nurse who was trained in hold back sedation, assisted a gastroenterologist in surgery by giving the patient propofol. The nurse gave too naughty of a dosage of propofol to the patient and the patient started experiencing respiratory arrest. In another baptistery, a physician prospect it would be safe to administer propofol himself while performing a breast augmentation surgery. According to a poll, 83 portion of people thought it was wrong for a surgeon to administer the propofol himself ( persuasion. com).The young patient died from not getting enough oxygen to the brain because there was no one there to supervise her. Nurses thrust been asked to give a little more of the propofol if a patient moved. Anesthesiologists bemuse been known to leave the populate and leave the syringe filled with propofol and a needle in the IV port so that the nurses can monitor the patient alone themselves. This has been brought to the attention of some infirmarys leaders however no laws have been enacted about this. Additionally, money is an issue when deciding the safety of the patient.There is sometimes an unwillingness of insurers to reimburse anesthesiologists for their look at and thus nurse-administered propofol happens quite often and untrained nurses may be caught in the middle of such a debate and feel pressures to administer the propofol themselves. States in the U. S. all have different views on propofol and whether or not it needs to be administered by a trained anesthesiologist or if a nurse should be allowed to do it (Kathy Dix). On an online survey seventy-eight percent of people believe that a trained anesthesiologist should be in control of the propofol and not a nurse (Survey. om). It usually comes down to that health care facilities board and is not decided by the state. In a recent survey, it state d that ninety-six percent of the people thought that every hospital and healthcare facility should have set rules on the case (Survey. com). In addition, American Society of Anesthesiologists, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and American A ssociation for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities believe that the only persons trained in administering general anesthesia should administer propofol to non-ventilated patients.The American Society of Anesthesiologists suggests that if that is not possible then non-anesthesia staff who do administer the drug should be qualified to rescue the patients if their direct of sedations becomes deeper than intended (Ismp. org). Along with the issue of propofol not being safely administered, it is also abused in the medical community itself. This can be done easily because it is not listed as a controlled substance by the Food and Drug Administration.The drug is likely to be liked by abusers because it induces relaxation or quie tude and can cause euphoria and also leaves the bloodstream so fast that it is difficult to detect (Nytimes). Anesthetists and abusers of propofol say that it can bring a brief but captivating high as the sedation wears off. It has been referred to as dancing with the white rabbit (referring to the white color of the drug) and pronapping because the drug induces a short sleep that many practioners and medical personnel use between their long shifts (Wall Street Journal). Many practioners do not feel that propofol should be a more controlled substance.However, according to a poll, eighty-seven percent of people think that propofol should be listed as a controlled substance (Survey. com). Naming propofol a controlled substance under the Drug Enforcement Agencys rules would require the hospitals to track their inventory, account for all the propofol vials, list all of its users, and lock it up with the hospitals narcotics. If these actions were taken doctors and nurses seeking rehabili tation for their abuse of propofol might cost them their licenses and lead to them having criminal charges because they would have been abusing a Drug Enforcement Agency controlled drug.Michael capital of Mississippis young death is the most well-known case of propofol abuse and has rekindled the propofol controversy the last two years. Detectives lay down large quantities of propofol and oxygen tanks in his home. Along with this they found that he had a personal physician that allegedly admitted to administering the drug to Jackson the day the singer died. Jackson reportedly had insomnia and was seeking aid from the drug. It seemed that his dance with the white rabbit caused his death, and may be the cause of many others if not taken into control. It enters your bloodstream fast, and even highly trained anesthesiologists cant control it, and die. They dont even have seconds to draw up out the needle, said Art Zwerling, a registered nurse anesthetist and counselor with the Associa tion of Nurse Anesthetists (Wall Street Journal). When the drug is being used properly there should be strict procedures enforced regarding the supervision of live signs and oxygen saturation to assure that the patient is safe. Health care facilities should inform all the staff working around propofol how dangerous it is.Todays standards on the administration of Diprivan (Propofol) are too lenient and need to be reformed. In conclusion, the distribution and handling of this drug needs to be strictly supervised. Works Cited What the Heck is Proprofol? more than Info On the Drug That May Have Killed Michael Jackson News Week. Web. 29 Jul. 2009. <http//www. newsweek. com/blogs/the-human-condition/2009/07/29/what-the-heck-is-propofol-more-info-on-the-drug-that-may-have-killed-michael-jackson. hypertext mark-up language> How to use Diprivan Drugs. com. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. <http//www. drugs. om/diprivan. html > Propofol (Drug) Web. 7 Aug. 2009. <http//topics. nytimes. com/topi cs/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/propofol/index. html> Michael Jacksons finis From Propofol Inside Surgery. Web. 24 Aug. 2009. <http//insidesurgery. com/tag/diprivan/> Practical Guide to Moderate Sedation/Analgesia Odom-forren. Donna Watson. 2005. Mosby Inc. Propofol (A Drug Used For Sedation) Carly Turner. Survey ages 18-50, 23 surveyors. Web. 4 May. 2011. Survey. com <http//www. survey. com/cgi-bin/pollxt. pl? poll=PM2U1AR9U9G8>