Critical care clinics
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2009
ReviewAltering intensive care sedation paradigms to improve patient outcomes.
Providing sedation and comfort for intensive care patients has evolved in the last few years. New approaches to improving outcomes for intensive care unit (ICU) patients include providing analgesia before adding sedation and recognizing dangerous adverse effects associated with sedative medications, such as prolonged effects of midazolam, propylene glycol toxicity with lorazepam, propofol infusion syndrome, the deliriogenic effects of benzodiazepines and propofol, and bradycardia with dexmedetomidine. There are now reliable and valid ways to monitor pain and delirium in ICU patients. Dexmedetomidine reduces the incidence of delirium, reduces the duration of mechanical ventilation, and appears to be cost effective.
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Despite considerable information on the pharmacotherapy of sedation in the ICU, there is little published on the pharmacoeconomics of sedation in patients who are critically ill. The purpose of this article is to discuss the various components that contribute to the cost of treating the agitated ICU patient and to critically review the articles published since 2000 that evaluated costs and cost-effectiveness in ICU patients receiving drugs for agitation and/or pain. Clinicians should look beyond the acquisition cost of a sedative and include the effect of sedatives on the cost of care when selecting the most appropriate sedative.
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2009
ReviewDelirium: an emerging frontier in the management of critically ill children.
The objectives of this article are (1) to introduce pediatric delirium and provide understanding of acute brain dysfunction with its classification and clinical presentations (2) to understand how delirium is diagnosed and discuss current modes of delirium diagnosis in the critically ill adult population and translation to pediatrics (3) to understand the prevalence and prognostic significance of delirium in the adult and pediatric critically ill population (4) to discuss the pathophysiology of delirium as currently understood, and (5) to provide general management guidelines for delirium.
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2009
ReviewProtocolized and target-based sedation and analgesia in the ICU.
Administering sedative and analgesic medications is a cornerstone of optimizing patient comfort and minimizing distress, yet may lead to unintended consequences including delayed recovery from critical illness and slower liberation from mechanical ventilation. The use of structured approaches to sedation management, including guidelines, protocols, and algorithms can promote evidence-based care, reduce variation in clinical practice, and systematically reduce the likelihood of excessive and/or prolonged sedation. Patient-focused sedation algorithms are multidisciplinary, including physician, nurse, and pharmacist development and implementation. ⋯ Sedation protocols generally focus on a) algorithms that incorporate treating sedation and analgesia based upon escalation, de-escalation, or changing medications according to specific targets, or b) daily interruption of sedative and opioid analgesic infusions. Many published sedation protocols have been tested in controlled clinical trials, often demonstrating benefit such as shorter duration of mechanical ventilation, reduced ICU length of stay, and/or superior sedation management compared to usual care. Implementation of sedation algorithms in ICUs is a challenging process for which sufficient resources must be allocated.
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2009
ReviewCognitive functioning, mental health, and quality of life in ICU survivors: an overview.
Critical illness can and often does lead to significant cognitive impairment and to the development of psychological disorders. These conditions are persistent and, although they improve with time, often fail to completely abate. ⋯ Potential contributors may include the potentially toxic effects of sedatives and narcotics, delirium, hypoxia, glucose dysregulation, metabolic derangements, and inflammation. Patients with preexisting vulnerabilities, including predisposing genetic factors, and frail elderly populations may be at particular risk for emergence of acceleration of conditions such as mild cognitive impairment.