**2. Definition**

Sedation is the depression in the perception of patient's surroundings, leading to the decrease of his or her reactivity to external stimuli [1]. Sedation seldomly occurs without different degrees of related effects of sedative agents which may be dose-dependent, such as:


The endoscopist must completely comprehend the sedation being used. Patient factors, the setup of the GI endoscopy service and the variables of the procedure itself are to be carefully considered. Age, weight, medical history, concurrent drugs, airway anatomy, preprocedural anxiety and pain tolerance are patient variables. The amount of expected pain, the length of the test, and how invasive the procedure would be are examples of procedural variables.

The area of the endoscopy suite, the ease of staff moving around, the presence of emergency airway management equipment, the different level of skills of personnel present and whether the procedure is carried out in a hospital setting or in a stand-alone clinic are all important part of the setup.
