Sedation and Analgesia in the Critically Ill Adult

GL Fraser, RR Riker


Curr Opin Anaesthesiol, 2007, 20:119–123



Patient restlessness, discomfort and agitation are arguably the most common clinical issues affecting critically ill adults. They are associated with a wide variety of conditions ranging from hypoxia and metabolic derangements to pain or delirium to substance withdrawal. In the last decade, an array of validated tools to assess agitation, sedation, delirium and analgesia have been developed specifically for use in the intensive care unit (ICU). These tools have enabled clinicians to measure the incidence of pain and agitation and to better judge the effectiveness of various interventions and pharmacologic therapies. As a result, newer strategies to incorporate best approaches and avoid adverse events from specific medications or ineffective or dangerous algorithms for their use are now available. Although a great deal more needs to be learned, recent advances can help ICU practitioners, resulting in more comfortable patients and reducing their risk for adverse events.


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