STOP-BANG as a Pre-procedure Risk Assessment Tool to Predict Intraprocedure Airway Maneuvers and Adverse Events in a Gastrointestinal Laboratory.

A high prevalence of undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) exists in patients receiving sedation for gastrointestinal laboratory (GI lab) procedures, with potentially serious adverse events associated with untreated OSA. This quality improvement project aimed to identify patients at high risk of OSA and evaluate their risk of intraprocedure airway maneuvers and adverse events in a GI lab. In the GI lab, nurses administered and documented the STOP-BANG questionnaire as part of their pre-procedure assessment of 80 patients presenting for elective procedures. The occurrence of airway maneuvers and adverse events during the procedures was measured using a checklist given to nurse anesthetists as they brought patients to the postprocedure area. Patients with STOP-BANG scores below 5 and with scores of 5 and above were compared. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze differences in patient outcomes. Patients with high STOP-BANG scores had an increased need for airway maneuvers and higher occurrence of adverse events (P=.05). These results support the use of STOP-BANG as a pre-procedure risk assessment tool. Anesthesia professionals can anticipate intraprocedure airway interventions, consider preemptive interventions in a GI lab, and be more vigilant when caring for patients with high STOP-BANG scores at high risk of undiagnosed OSA.