Covidien, a global provider of healthcare products and developer of monitoring and respiratory care devices, announced its support for The Joint Commission's recent Sentinel Alert recommendations for hospitals' safe use of opioids.
The Joint Commission recommends that healthcare organizations take several actions to boost safe use of opioids, including sufficient education and training for standardized tools to screen patients for risk factors such as oversedation and respiratory depression.
"These recommendations represent an important milestone that should enhance patient safety in hospitals nationwide," said Scott Kelley, MD, chief medical officer of respiratory and monitoring solutions at Covidien. "In particular, capnography, which monitors adequacy of ventilation through exhaled carbon dioxide, provides an early indication of hypoventilation or respiratory distress, and represents one option for enabling clinicians to detect and address these health threats sooner."
Learn more about Covidien.
The Joint Commission recommends that healthcare organizations take several actions to boost safe use of opioids, including sufficient education and training for standardized tools to screen patients for risk factors such as oversedation and respiratory depression.
"These recommendations represent an important milestone that should enhance patient safety in hospitals nationwide," said Scott Kelley, MD, chief medical officer of respiratory and monitoring solutions at Covidien. "In particular, capnography, which monitors adequacy of ventilation through exhaled carbon dioxide, provides an early indication of hypoventilation or respiratory distress, and represents one option for enabling clinicians to detect and address these health threats sooner."
Learn more about Covidien.