Abstract
Background: Consensus guidelines for pain, agitation, and delirium (PAD) in mechanically ventilated patients recommend maintaining a light level of sedation.
Local Problem: Consistent attainment of target PAD assessments in mechanically ventilated ICU patients is often challenging.
Methods: This is a single-center, prospective study.
Interventions: In the intervention group, a pharmacist provided weekly feedback to nurses on their success in achieving target PAD assessments compared with a historical cohort without feedback.
Results: Overall, 478 patients and 205 nurses were included. The odds of having weekly Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) score, pain score goals, and Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU) negative assessments at goal between the intervention and control groups fluctuated over time without a discernible trend.
Conclusion: The provision of weekly feedback to nurses on PAD nursing assessments by a pharmacist did not impact the achievement of PAD goals among critically ill mechanically ventilated patients.