To evaluate the effects on endoscopy unit efficiency of a change in narcotic choice for moderate sedation in patients undergoing EGD at an ambulatory surgery center.
Prospective, comparative, quality-improvement project.
Endoscopy unit of a tertiary-care academic medical center.
We enrolled consecutive patients (n = 1963) who underwent outpatient EGD by 1 of 5 endoscopists between November 2008 and November 2010.
Moderate sedation with midazolam plus fentanyl versus meperidine.
Sedation-dependent endoscopy unit efficiency and total procedure time (induction-to-intubation, intubation-to-extubation, and extubation-to-discharge).
Fentanyl was associated with reduced total procedure time by 10.1 minutes resulting from both shorter induction-to-intubation time and extubation-to-discharge time (
No randomization was performed.
Compared with meperidine, fentanyl in combination with midazolam was associated with significantly shorter total procedure time. By improving the turnaround time, sedation-dependent endoscopy unit efficiency may be improved by 22 % .