Assessment of sedation during opioid administration for pain management.

LIFE-THREATENING respiratory depression is the most serious of the opioid adverse effects. To most nurses, it is one of the most frightening aspects of opioid administration. However, nurses can be the key to preventing clinically significant respiratory depression by performing systematic assessments of their patients’ sedation levels. Less opioid is required to produce sedation than to produce respiratory depression, a characteristic that makes sedation a particularly sensitive indicator of impending respiratory depression. Gradual increases in sedation are an early warning sign and must be attended to with a prompt reduction in opioid dose and more frequent monitoring until the patient demonstrates an acceptable level of sedation.