Patterns of anesthesia and nursing care for interventional radiology procedures: A national survey of physician practices and preferences

PURPOSE: Through a survey of interventional radiologists, to document patterns of conscious sedation, nursing assistance, and care before and after the intervention and to compare demographics and different interventional radiology practices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey was sent to the 1,713 members of the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology. The levels of sedation were categorized according to the following grading scale commonly employed by anesthesiologists: awake/alert, drowsy/arousable, asleep/arousable, deep sedation, and general anesthesia. The drugs used for sedation were recorded. The procedures were categorized as diagnostic vascular or visceral or therapeutic vascular or visceral. Data were available for most standard vascular and visceral procedures. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-four (37%) interventional radiologists responded, and 500,000 procedures were analyzed. Most (90%) therapeutic procedures employed the drowsy/arousable level of sedation. Eighty-seven percent of respondents had the assistance of a full-time radiology nurse, 90% reported routine use of blood pressure or pulse oximetry monitoring, and 75% reported daily rounds were performed by physicians. CONCLUSION: The data supply useful background information regarding the use of anesthesia, periprocedural monitoring, clinical assessment, and nursing care.