Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine
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Current choices for sustained sedation in the critically ill include the benzodiazepines, the opiates, and propofol. Each of these groups of medications has their particular benefits: benzodiazepines provide the greatest amnesia, opiates are the only agents to provide analgesia, and propofol is the most easily titratable and the least likely to excessively accrue. ⋯ Further research is needed to determine the role of dexmedetomidine in the ICU. The emerging standard of care for sustained sedation is the use of standardized protocols, formulated with the help of clinical practice guidelines, and titrated with the guidance of sedation monitoring.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Jan 2001
Models of critical care delivery: physician staffing in the ICU.
Although a consensus has emerged over the value of intensive care units (ICUs) in improving both the outcome and efficiency of critical care, the optimal staffing configuration of physicians who provide this care remains controversial. The value of open ICUs, where many clinicians can admit and care for patients, versus closed ICUs, where an on-site intensivist or housestaff team (or both) provides primary care of the critically ill patient is one aspect of this controversy. The roles of the intensivist, the ICU housestaff team, and the ICU director have also been debated. This article reviews the available literature on physician staffing in critical care units and its relationship to outcome and cost-effectiveness of care.
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The sleep of intensive care unit (ICU) patients is remarkably disrupted. Several studies, employing both subjective and objective measures of sleep quality, have demonstrated that critically ill patients exhibit severe sleep fragmentation and reduced restorative sleep, particularly a suppression of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. ⋯ Noise has been a significant focus of investigation, and the effects of medications, light, and patient-care activities have also been examined. Several questions remain to be answered so that caregivers can improve sleep in ICU patients, including the relative contribution of different sleep-disrupting factors and possible changes in patient susceptibility to these factors over time.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Jan 2001
Cost considerations in sedation, analgesia, and neuromuscular blockade in the intensive care unit.
Sedation of critically ill patients is a costly endeavor. Costs of commonly used intensive care unit (ICU) sedatives range from pennies to more than $500 per day. Although the agents account for some of this expense, complications related to the use of these drugs in the ICU produce even greater costs. ⋯ Opiates may result in gastrointestinal dysfunction with resulting malnutrition and perhaps bacterial translocation and sepsis. Neuromuscular blocking agents may cause prolonged paralysis and disability in critically ill patients who receive them. Simple dosing strategies based on pharmacological principles may decrease the incidence of these costly problems.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Jan 2001
Multidisciplinary management of sedation and analgesia in critical care.
Management of sedation and analgesia in critical care medicine is a multidisciplinary process that involves physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers. Optimal management of these common issues includes recognition of the importance of predisposing and causative conditions that contribute to the sensations of pain and discomfort, anxiety, and delirium. ⋯ Optimal use of sedative and analgesic medications involves matching unique properties of specific medications with individual patient characteristics. Guidelines that minimize unnecessary variability in practice, prevent excessive medication, and emphasize management based on individual patient characteristics improve the effective utilization of these medications.