Minimal Sedation — Better Strategy for Patients on Mechanical Ventilators?

In most intensive care units (ICUs), patients on mechanical ventilation are sedated nearly continuously. Based on studies that showed shortened duration of ventilation and fewer complications with daily awakening, most ICUs now interrupt sedation daily. However, for the past decade in one ICU in Denmark, most ventilated patients routinely received no sedation; investigators from this center now have evaluated this strategy formally.

A total of 140 adult patients who were expected to require mechanical ventilation for at least 24 hours were randomized to either continuous titrated intravenous sedation with daily interruptions or to no sedation. Patients in both groups received intravenous morphine boluses (2.5 or 5 mg) as needed. Dedicated st…