Abstract

Alleviation and treatment of pain is a basic human right including newborns. Contrary to popular perception, our principal function in patient care is not only to save lives (since this is impossible on a consistent basis), but also to relieve pain and suffering. And the patients who experience the greatest pain and suffering are the ones in the intensive care unit(ICU). Sedation allows to prevent the patients’ awareness and reduction of their response to various external stimuli. However, sedation is like a double-edged sword for ICU patients. Over-sedation can cause long-term ventilatory support and increase duration of ICU stay, whereas under-sedation can cause hyper-catabolism, immunosuppression, hypercoagulability and increased sympathetic activity. Pain is widely regarded as the fifth vital sign, and it induces a myriad of deleterious physiological changes in most organ systems. Pain, especially in sedated patients, can present as agitation, delirium, and inadequate pain management can have psychological sequelae like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety or it can progress to chronic pain.

Key words: Sedation, Analgesia, Analgosedation, Intensive care unit, PICU, NICU