• Ryan M Rivosecchi, Pamela L Smithburger, Susan Svec, Shauna Campbell, and Sandra L Kane-Gill.
• Ryan M. Rivosecchi is a second-year pharmacy resident in critical care at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Pamela L. Smithburger is an assistant professor of pharmacy and therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a clinical specialist in the medical intensive care unit at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital.Susan Svec is the clinical director of the medical intensive care unit, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital. She recently graduated from the master's of leadership and administration program at California University of Pennsylvania, California, Pennsylvania.Shauna Campbell is the nursing director of the medical intensive care unit at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital.Sandra L. Kane-Gill is an associate professor of pharmacy and therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. She has secondary appointments in the School of Medicine in the Clinical Translational Science Institute, Department of Critical Care Medicine, and the Department of Biomedical Informatics. She is also the critical care medication safety pharmacist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the Department of Pharmacy.
• Crit Care Nurse. 2015 Feb 1; 35 (1): 39-50; quiz 51.

AbstractDevelopment of delirium in critical care patients is associated with increased length of stay, hospital costs, and mortality. Delirium occurs across all inpatient settings, although critically ill patients who require mechanical ventilation are at the highest risk. Overall, evidence to support the use of antipsychotics to either prevent or treat delirium is lacking, and these medications can have adverse effects. The pain, agitation, and delirium guidelines of the American College of Critical Care Medicine provide the strongest level of recommendation for the use of nonpharmacological approaches to prevent delirium, but questions remain about which nonpharmacological interventions are beneficial. ©2015 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

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