Accurate sedation reduces ventilation time

Patients with respiratory failure who need to be ventilated are usually given analgesia and sedatives, yet this practice often prolongs ventilator time because of oversedation through continuous infusion. Brattebo and colleagues (p 1386) decreased ventilator time by 2.1 days by introducing a package of measures, including a sedation scoring system and sedation protocol. The protocol allowed nurses to adjust the sedation according to the levels set by doctors. Mean ventilator time decreased from 7.4 days to 5.3 days after the intervention was introduced.

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Quality improvement report: Effect of a scoring system and protocol for sedation on duration of patients' need for ventilator support in a surgical intensive care unit

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