Ketamine for sedation in acutely painful procedures in Kenya: findings after implementation of the Every Second Matters-Ketamine package
Every Second Matters-Ketamine package is for use during emergency surgery when no anaesthetist is available.
Abstract
Adequate pain management for painful procedures improves the quality and safety of patient care and has become accepted as a basic human right. In low-resource settings, pain relief for painful procedures is scarce because of cultural, attitudinal, legal, and system-related reasons, as well as a scarcity of anaesthetists. A practice of “hold still”, where patients are forcibly held down during painful procedures, remains common in Kenya and in other low-resource settings. In December, 2013, we launched the Every Second Matters-Ketamine (ESM-Ketamine) package in Kenya, for use during emergency surgery when no anaesthetist is available. Here, we aim to describe how non-anaesthetists who were trained in an ESM-Ketamine programme broadened use of their skills to provide procedural sedation for patients in need of painful procedures when an anaesthetist would not have been previously called.
This research was supported by the Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme.
Citation
Moytrayee Guha, Sebastian Suarez, Moshood Olanrewaju Omotayo, Daniel Sessler, Khama Rogo, Taha Yusufali and others. ‘Ketamine for sedation in acutely painful procedures in Kenya: findings after implementation of the Every Second Matters-Ketamine package’. The Lancet Global Health 2019: volume 7, special issue, S41 March