Capnography Monitoring During Procedural Sedation in Radiology and Imaging Settings: An Integrative Review

• Capnography provides an objective assessment of ventilation.
• Capnography is an important adjunct complementing current standard monitors.
• The ability to monitor ventilation is compromised in the radiology and imaging setting.
• Capnography gives the practitioner real-time information about the patient's ventilatory status.
• Routine capnography during procedural sedation enhances patient safety in radiology and imaging settings.

Nurses in radiology and imaging settings are administering moderate sedation in highly complex environments to an older sicker population with multiple comorbidities. The ability to monitor ventilation and remain in constant communication with the patient is often compromised. Capnography provides a real-time objective assessment of the patient's ventilatory status and can detect hypopneic ventilation. When added to the current standard of care, it is superior at preventing hypoxemia by promoting more timely nursing interventions. It has been adopted by many nursing and medical associations and should be a standard of care in radiology and imaging settings for patients undergoing moderate sedation. This literature review represents the efforts of a multidisciplinary nursing task force created by the Association for Radiology and Imaging Nursing for the purposes of providing high-level evidence in the formulation of their position statement on capnography for moderate sedation/analgesia.