Use of a decision support system improves the management of hemodynamic and respiratory events in orthopedic patients under propofol sedation and spinal analgesia: a randomized trial

150 patients undergoing elective orthopaedic lower-limb surgery requiring spinal analgesia with propofol sedation were randomized to undergo the procedure with or without the use of a decision support system (DSS) by the attending anaesthesiologist. The purpose of this study was to determine whether using a DSS decreased the time to detect a critical event. Results indicated that the DSS group had a significantly shorter time to detect a critical event, reduced incidence of undetected alarms, reduced frequency of low peripheral oxygen saturation cases, increased mean propofol dose, and increased number of propofol dose changes per hour. The proportion of false positive alarms was similar between groups.