RAY McGLONE wrote:
> Why not just give some Flumazenil? I don't give it as a routine but I do if
> we are short of nursing staff.
>
My pharmacology teaching was that flumazenil had a shorter duration of action
than the drug it was antagonising. Therefore there is a risk that the flumazenil
would wear off and the benzo kick back in. This not only puts you back where you
started but havng lulled the nursing/medical staff into a false sense of
security may allow the hypoventilation/obstructed airway to go un-noticed.
Hence I only use flumazenil when the respiration is already dangerously
depressed not to wake the patient up more quickly.
Is this a theoretical risk only or should I change my practice?
Andrew Hobart
A&E Consultant
London
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