Overview

In the above video, leading medical practitioners discuss the importance of evaluating agitation, discussing how pain, delirium, anxiety, ventilator asynchrony, and the ICU environment itself can lead to agitation in ICU patients.

By changing one habit—evaluating the causes of agitation, instead of immediately turning to sedation—the risk of oversedation may be reduced.([FOOTNOTE=Barr J, Fraser GL, Puntillo K, et al; American College of Critical Care Medicine. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of pain, agitation, and delirium in adult patients in the intensive care unit. Crit Care Med.2013;41(1):263-306.],[ANCHOR=],[LINK=])

And by using sedation more effectively, we can work together to potentially reduce ICU ventilation time.

 

Improving Outcomes

We have a solution.

A key to avoiding unnecessary sedation and its clinical consequences is to understand the causes of agitation.