What are the main advantages of IV sedation?
* IV sedation tends to be the method of choice if you don’t want to be aware of the procedure – you “don’t want to know”. The alternative in the US is oral sedation using Halcion, but oral sedation is not as reliably effective as IV sedation. * The onset of action is very rapid, and drug dosage and level of sedation can be tailored to meet the individual’s needs. This is a huge advantage compared to oral sedation, where the effects can be very unreliable. IV sedation, on the other hand, is both highly effective and higly reliable. * The maximum level of sedation which can be reached with IV is deeper than with oral or inhalation sedation. * Benzos produce amnesia for the procedure. * The gag reflex is hugely diminished – people receiving IV sedation rarely experience difficulty with gagging. However, if minimizing a severe gag reflex is the main objective, inhalation sedation is usually tried first. Only if that fails to diminish the gag reflex should IV sedation be used for this purpo
