46 THE QUEENS COURIER • WELLNESS • JANUARY 18, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
wellness
Going in for Surgery? Learn How Opioids May
Increase Your Risk for Respiratory Compromise
Th ere is a serious epidemic of opioid-related
drug addiction in the United States,
accompanied by an alarming increase in
opioid-related drug overdose deaths. In
addition to the non-prescription use of
opioids, administration of prescribed opioids
in hospital settings, especially in combination
with anesthesia and other sedating
medications, may cause respiratory
depression, which can lead to respiratory
compromise - a potentially life threatening
state of unstable respiratory health.
If respiratory compromise goes unrecognized
and is left untreated, it can result in
respiratory failure, and even death.
People with certain risk factors -
obstructive sleep apnea, older age, obesity
and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease - have a greater chance of developing
progressive respiratory compromise.
Th ese risk factors, when present in
patients receiving opioids for pain relief
or sedation, can potentially increase the
possibility of respiratory compromise and
should be identifi ed by screening patients
prior to opioid administration to enable
better, safer care.
“It is crucial that patients understand
their risk of respiratory compromise
when given opioids while undergoing
or recovering from a surgical procedure,”
said Carla R. Jungquist, PhD,
ANP-BC, FAAN, Associate Professor,
University at Buff alo, Th e State of New
York, School of Nursing, Buff alo, N.Y.
“In addition, healthcare professionals
should use responsible opioid prescribing
and administration practices, along
with appropriate monitoring practices
tailored to individual patient needs, to
promote safer and improved pain control
while also decreasing the risk of respiratory
compromise.”
Life-threatening respiratory compromise
(for example, respiratory arrest) can
be avoided by using appropriate monitoring
technologies to evaluate a patient’s
respiratory status. Healthcare professionals,
using electronic monitoring technologies,
can detect and manage respiratory
compromise earlier and more eff ectively.
One such technology, capnography,
which measures the level of carbon
dioxide in a person’s exhaled breath, may
help identify respiratory compromise in
its earliest stage.
Visit http://www.respiratorycompromise.
org/ to learn more about respiratory
compromise.
Courtesy BPT