• Eduardo Tobar A, Alejandra Lanas M, Sandra Pino P, Paulina Aspée L, Sandra Rivas V, Daniela Prat R, Rosmi Asenjo B, and José Castro O.
• Unidad de Paciente Crítico, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santos Dumont 999, Santiago, Chile. edotobar@gmail.com
• Rev Med Chil. 2008 Jun 1;136(6):711-8.

BackgroundSedatives and analgesic drugs give comfort and allow adequate respiratory support to critically ill patients in mechanical ventilation (MV). Its improper use may increase the duration of MV. Clinical guidelines suggest implementation of protocols, however this is seldom done in clinical practice.AimTo compare in MV patients, nurse-applied guided by protocol administration of sedatives and analgesic drugs (protocol: group P) with the habitual practice using physicians criteria (control: group C).Material And MethodsInclusion criteria was the need of MV more than 48 h. The exclusion criteria were acute neurological diseases, hepatic cirrhosis, chronic renal failure and limitation of therapeutic efforts. Midazolam and fentanyl were used in both groups. The level of sedation was monitored with the Sedation Agitation Scale (SAS). In the P group, trained nurses applied algorithms to adjust the sedative doses according to a predefined SAS goal.ResultsForty patients were included, 22 aged 65+/-19 years in group P and 18 aged 54+/-21 years in group C. Apache II scores were 16+/-8 and 19+/-8 in each group. SAS score was more frequently evaluated within goal boundaries in group P than in group C (44% and 32%, respectively p =0.001). No differences in the proportion of patients with inadequate sedation were observed between treatment groups. Midazolam doses were lower in P than in C group (0.04 (0.02-0.07) and 0.06 (0.03-0.08) mg/kg/h respectively, p =0.005).ConclusionsThe implementation of sedation protocol applied by nurses improved the quality of sedation and reduced the doses of Midazolam in mechanically ventilated patients.

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