UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Outcomes of Early Deep Sedation of the Mechanically-Ventilated Patient (Submitted by Andrew Deitchman)

Keywords: Mechanical ventilation, sedation (PubMed Search)

Posted: 8/30/2017 by Kami Windsor, MD
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Background: Sedation and analgesia are key components for mechanically ventilated patients. While significant data exists regarding how to manage sedation and analgesia in the ICU setting, very little data exists on management in the ED.

Data: A prospective, single-center, observational study of mechanically-ventilated adult patients used linear regression to identify ED sedation practices and outcomes, with a focus on sedation characteristics using the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS).

Findings:

15% of intubated patients had no sedation or analgesia ordered
64% of intubated patients were documented as deeply-sedated (RASS -3 to -5)
Deep sedation was not only associated with more ventilator days, but also increased mortality, with an adjusted OR of 0.77 (95% CI 0.54-0.94) favoring patients with lighter sedation.

Bottom line: Avoid early deep sedation in your intubated patients as this may be directly associated with increased mortality. Instead, a goal RASS of 0 to -2 should be appropriate for most non-paralyzed, mechanically-ventilated ED patients, extrapoloating from ICU guidelines.

References

Stephens, R.J., et al., Analgosedation Practices and the Impact of Sedation Depth on Clinical Outcomes Among Patients Requiring Mechanical Ventilation in the ED: A Cohort Study. Chest, 2017 [Epub ahead of print].

Barr J, Fraser GL, Puntillo K, Ely EW, Gélinas C, Dasta JF, Davidson JE, Devlin JW, Kress JP, Joffe AM, 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;41:263–306.