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- Title
Monitoring sedation in the intensive care unit: can "black boxes" help us?
- Authors
Walsh, Timothy S.; Ramsay, Pam; Kinnunen, Riina
- Abstract
This article discusses monitoring sedation in the intensive care unit. Sedation is one of the commonest intensive care treatments. As with any treatment, it has potential side effects. Excessive sedation is prevalent in ICUs, because organ failures result in unpredictable pharmacokinetics and severe illness may alter the pharmacodynamics of drug responses. The delayed recovery of consciousness can prolong mechanical ventilation, increase complication rates and lengthen ICU stay. One method of reducing excessive sedation is to discontinue sedative drugs completely on a daily basis. This approach may be suitable for many patients, but it is unclear if it has side effects, such as myocardial ischaemia, or if the prevalence of long-term complications, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, is increased.
- Subjects
CRITICAL care medicine; DRUG interactions; ISCHEMIA; INTENSIVE care units; CORONARY disease; POST-traumatic stress disorder; BODY temperature; CATASTROPHIC illness; DRUG monitoring; ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY; ELECTROMYOGRAPHY; PATIENT monitoring; CONSCIOUS sedation
- Publication
Intensive Care Medicine, 2004, Vol 30, Issue 8, p1511
- ISSN
0342-4642
- Publication type
editorial
- DOI
10.1007/s00134-004-2271-z