Professional Sedation Services

Sedation is a partial suppression of consciousness, where an anaesthetic is total suppression. In conscious sedation (CS) patients are aware of their surroundings and can respond to questions and other stimuli. The patient will feel relaxed and comfortable and some patients even fall asleep during the procedure. During CS patients can be aroused verbally and will respond appropriately to questions and stimuli.

Yes. Sedation is a safe alternative to anaesthetic in the well trained and correctly equipped doctor’s hands.

Yes. It is a well-excepted method in children for small procedures and dental work. Only a trained sedationist should do these sedations.

No. The goal of sedation is to control anxiety and pain during operations. The drugs used, and the injection of local anaesthetics can effectively block pain in these selected procedures.

It depends on the drugs used, the individual response to the drugs and the time under sedation. In CS you are never really ‘asleep’ although it may seem so. The patient can be aroused by verbal command or physical stimuli.
Recovery is swift after the infusion of drugs is stopped. You could feel drowsy or light headed for a period after the procedure. In deeper forms of sedation consciousness is normally regained within minutes of the discontinuation of the drugs.

Side effects after CS are much less than with a general anaesthetic. Nausea is very seldom seen as one of the drugs used in sedation has a strong anti -nausea effect. In conscious sedation no gasses are used and this reduces the chance of nausea even more. The incidence of nausea is only 0.7% in CS.

You should be able to leave the aftercare in 15 to 40 minutes. You should refrain from driving for 12 hours due to the fact that it could take a while for normal co-ordination to recover. You are not allowed to operate heavy machinery, or sign any contracts. A day off work is normally advised. You should remain in the company of a responsible adult for 12 hours following the sedation.

Yes. For short procedures like dental work, sedation is one of the options. It is important to ensure that a trained doctor is used to do this type of sedation. Please ask your trained sedationist for more information.

Most medical aids are aware of the financial advantages of CS and are therefore willing to cover the costs, mostly out of your savings account. However, you are responsible to contact your medical aid to confirm and get authorization from them. The account stays the responsibility of the patient. Please note that Professional Sedation Services charge fees above medical aid rates, which means there is a co-payment from the patient. If the account is paid by the patient on the day of sedation and them claimed back from the medical aid, a discount will be given to the patient.

We do feel that training in this field is imperative. The doctors working with Professional Sedation Services all have postgraduate training in sedation.