Journal of trauma nursing : the official journal of the Society of Trauma Nurses
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Review
Interprofessional Implementation of a Pain/Sedation Guideline on a Trauma Intensive Care Unit.
Trauma patients experience pain and agitation during their hospitalization. Many complications have been noted both in the absence of symptom management and the in presence of oversedation/narcotization. To combat noted untoward effects of pain and sedation management, an interprofessional team convened to develop a pain and sedation guideline for use in a trauma intensive care unit. ⋯ In comparing pre- and postimplementation patient data, there was a significant decrease in mean analgesic treatment duration and an increase in the use of antipsychotics for delirium management. Following the trial period, this guideline was permanently adopted across the adult critical care service. The development of a nurse-driven analgosedation guideline was noted to be both feasible and successful.