Pharmacotherapy
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Pediatric opioid and benzodiazepine withdrawal are avoidable complications of pain and sedation management that is well described in the literature. To prevent withdrawal from occurring, practitioners regularly use a steady decrease of pain and sedation medications, also known as a weaning or tapering schedule. The weaning schedule is highly variable based on clinician preference and is usually dependent on the clinician. ⋯ The use of a standardized opioid-weaning protocol reduced withdrawal rates compared with nonstandardized weaning plans. Benzodiazepine weaning was inconsistently evaluated and may have affected study outcomes. Identified areas of improvement include the use of newer withdrawal assessment tools validated in the older pediatric population and standardized withdrawal assessment and reporting.
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As delirium is a common manifestation in critically ill patients and is associated with worse clinical outcomes, we sought to characterize the reversibility of delirium after discontinuation of sedation and to determine whether sedation-associated delirium that rapidly reverses impacts clinical outcomes. ⋯ Despite the cessation of medications for continuous sedation, delirium persisted for the majority of patients and was associated with worse outcomes, which attests to the importance of strategies to minimize sedation.