Analgosedation practices and the impact of sedation depth on clinical outcomes among patients requiring mechanical ventilation

journal.publications.chestnet.org July 4, 2017

Analgesia and sedation are cornerstone therapies for mechanically ventilated patients. Despite data showing that early deep sedation in the intensive care unit influences outcome, this has not been investigated in the emergency department (ED). Early deep sedation is common in mechanically ventilated ED patients and is associated with worse mortality. These data suggest that ED-based sedation is a modifiable variable that could be targeted to improve outcome.