Sobresedación Zero como herramienta de confort, seguridad y gestión en la unidades de cuidados intensivos / Oversedation Zero as a tool for comfort, safety and intensive care unit management

La sedación es necesaria en el tratamiento de los pacientes críticos, tanto para aliviar el sufrimiento como para curar a los pacientes con enfermedades que precisan el ingreso en unidades de cuidados intensivos. Esta sedación debe ser la adecuada a las necesidades del paciente en cada momento de su evolución clínica, ni por debajo (infrasedación) ni por encima (sobresedación). Una sedación adecuada influye en la comodidad, la seguridad, la supervivencia, la calidad de vida posterior, la rotación de camas de las unidades de críticos y los costes. La infrasedación se detecta y corrige rápidamente. Sin embargo, la sobresedación es silente y difícil de prevenir sin unas pautas de actuación, una concienciación colectiva y un trabajo en equipo. El proyecto «Sobresedación Zero» del Grupo de Trabajo de Sedación, Analgesia y Delirium de la Sociedad Española de Medicina Intensiva, Crítica y Unidades Coronarias pretende ser una herramienta docente, práctica y de concienciación colectiva de comodidad, seguridad y gestión para maximizar el resultado clínico y minimizar los efectos perjudiciales de la sedación excesiva. Se basa en un paquete de medidas que se incluye monitorizar el dolor, la analgesia, la agitación, la sedación, el delirium y el bloqueo neuromuscular, mantener a los pacientes sin dolor, realizar una sedación dinámica según objetivos clínicos, consensuar el protocolo multidisciplinar a seguir y evitar la sedación profunda no indicada clínicamente

Sedation is necessary in the management of critically ill patients, both to alleviate suffering and to cure patients with diseases that require admission to the intensive care unit. Such sedation should be appropriate to the patient needs at each timepoint during clinical evolution, and neither too low (undersedation) nor too high (oversedation). Adequate sedation influences patient comfort, safety, survival, subsequent quality of life, bed rotation of critical care units and costs. Undersedation is detected and quickly corrected. In contrast, oversedation is silent and difficult to prevent in the absence of management guidelines, collective awareness and teamwork. The Zero Oversedation Project of the Sedation, Analgesia and Delirium Working Group of the Spanish Society of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine and Coronary Units aims to offer a practical teaching and collective awareness tool for ensuring patient comfort, safety and management with a view to optimizing the clinical outcomes and minimizing the deleterious effects of excessive sedation. The tool is based on a package of measures that include monitoring pain, analgesia, agitation, sedation, delirium and neuromuscular block, keeping patients pain-free, performing dynamic sedation according to clinical objectives, agreeing upon the multidisciplinary protocol to be followed, and avoiding deep sedation where not clinically indicated

Oversedation Zero as a tool for comfort, safety and intensive care unit management. / Sobresedación Zero como herramienta de confort, seguridad y gestión en la unidades de cuidados intensivos.

Sedation is necessary in the management of critically ill patients, both to alleviate suffering and to cure patients with diseases that require admission to the intensive care unit. Such sedation should be appropriate to the patient needs at each timepoint during clinical evolution, and neither too low (undersedation) nor too high (oversedation). Adequate sedation influences patient comfort, safety, survival, subsequent quality of life, bed rotation of critical care units and costs. Undersedation is detected and quickly corrected. In contrast, oversedation is silent and difficult to prevent in the absence of management guidelines, collective awareness and teamwork. The Zero Oversedation Project of the Sedation, Analgesia and Delirium Working Group of the Spanish Society of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine and Coronary Units aims to offer a practical teaching and collective awareness tool for ensuring patient comfort, safety and management with a view to optimizing the clinical outcomes and minimizing the deleterious effects of excessive sedation. The tool is based on a package of measures that include monitoring pain, analgesia, agitation, sedation, delirium and neuromuscular block, keeping patients pain-free, performing dynamic sedation according to clinical objectives, agreeing upon the multidisciplinary protocol to be followed, and avoiding deep sedation where not clinically indicated.

Prácticas de analgosedación y delirium en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos españolas: Encuesta 2013-2014 / Management of analgesia, sedation and delirium in Spanish Intensive Care Units: A national two-part survey

Objetivo: Conocer la práctica clínica real de las UCI españolas en relación con la analgosedación y delirium, y valorar cómo se ajusta a las recomendaciones actuales. Diseño: Estudio transversal descriptivo elaborado mediante encuesta nacional sobre prácticas de analgosedación y delirium de los pacientes ingresados en UCI los días 16 de noviembre de 2013 y 16 de octubre de 2014. Se envió un cuestionario a través de Internet con el aval de la SEMICYUC. Ámbito: UCI tanto públicas como privadas de todo el territorio nacional. Resultados: Se incluyeron un total de 166 UCI y a 1.567 pacientes. El 61,4% de las UCI contaban con un protocolo de sedación. El 75% de las UCI monitorizaban la sedación y agitación, con RASS como la escala empleada con mayor frecuencia. El dolor se monitorizaba en algo más de la mitad de las UCI, pero las escalas conductuales eran de muy baja implantación. El delirium también presentaba un bajo nivel diagnóstico. Entre los pacientes en ventilación mecánica el midazolam continuaba siendo un sedante de muy amplio uso. Conclusiones: Esta encuesta es la primera realizada en España sobre analgosedación y delirium y nos muestra una fotografía sobre estas prácticas, señala algunos aspectos como los relacionados con la monitorización y usos de escalas, junto con el manejo del delirium, en los que los resultados del estudio animan a desarrollar proyectos docentes que acerquen la práctica clínica real a las recomendaciones nacionales e internacionales

Objective: To know the real clinical practice of Spanish ICUs in relation to analgesia, sedation and delirium, with a view to assessing adherence to current recommendations. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out based on a national survey on analgesia, sedation and delirium practices in patients admitted to intensive care on 16 November, 2013 and 16 October, 2014. An on-line questionnaire was sent with the endorsement of the SEMICYUC. Setting: Spanish ICUs in public and private hospitals. Results: A total of 166 ICUs participated, with the inclusion of 1567 patients. The results showed that 61.4% of the ICUs had a sedation protocol, and 75% regularly monitored sedation and agitation - the RASS being the most frequently used scale. Pain was monitored in about half of the ICUs, but the behavioral scales were very little used. Delirium monitoring was implemented in few ICUs. Among the patients on mechanical ventilation, midazolam remained a very commonly used agent. Conclusions: This survey is the first conducted in Spain on the practices of analgesia, sedation and delirium. We identified specific targets for quality improvement, particularly concerning the management of sedation and the assessment of delirium

Management of analgesia, sedation and delirium in Spanish Intensive Care Units: A national two-part survey. / Prácticas de analgosedación y delirium en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos españolas: Encuesta 2013-2014.

OBJECTIVE: To know the real clinical practice of Spanish ICUs in relation to analgesia, sedation and delirium, with a view to assessing adherence to current recommendations. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out based on a national survey on analgesia, sedation and delirium practices in patients admitted to intensive care on 16 November, 2013 and 16 October, 2014. An on-line questionnaire was sent with the endorsement of the SEMICYUC. SETTING: Spanish ICUs in public and private hospitals. RESULTS: A total of 166 ICUs participated, with the inclusion of 1567 patients. The results showed that 61.4% of the ICUs had a sedation protocol, and 75% regularly monitored sedation and agitation - the RASS being the most frequently used scale. Pain was monitored in about half of the ICUs, but the behavioral scales were very little used. Delirium monitoring was implemented in few ICUs. Among the patients on mechanical ventilation, midazolam remained a very commonly used agent. CONCLUSIONS: This survey is the first conducted in Spain on the practices of analgesia, sedation and delirium. We identified specific targets for quality improvement, particularly concerning the management of sedation and the assessment of delirium.

[The female sex is an independent prognostic factor for mortality in the acute phase of myocardial infarction]. / El sexo femenino es un factor pronóstico independiente de mortalidad en la fase aguda del infarto de miocardio.

BACKGROUND: To assess the effect of female gender on mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), we studied a cohort of 876 consecutive patients, being women 253 of them (28.8%), admitted to the intensive Care Unit (ICU) because of a first AMI, from September 1992 to October 1995. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We compared the clinical characteristics, the complications and the treatment in both sexes. We estimated the relative risk using logistic regression, being the sex, the independent variable and dependent variables age, history of hypertension and diabetes, AMI location and thrombolytic treatment. RESULTS: The age was higher and the history of hypertension and diabetes more frequent. The AMI location was less often inferior. Women received fibrinolytic treatment less frequently in women than in men. The mortality in the ICU was higher in the women (29.2 vs. 13.5% in the men) and, after adjusting for the previous factors the relative risk was 1.51 (95% confidence internal of 1.01-2.26). CONCLUSIONS: In the population studied, the female gender is an independent risk factor for early mortality in the AMI.

[Multiple organ failure in Plasmodium falciparum malaria]. / Fallo multiorgánico en el paludismo por Plasmodium falciparum.

A 44-year-old Spanish woman travelled in Kenya without doing correct malarial prophylaxis. Upon her return to Spain, she suffered from Plasmodium falciparum malaria. She was initially treated with chloroquine for three days, but her state worsened and she was admitted to our intensive care unit. On admission, parasitaemia was 22%. She had hyperpyrexia, obtundation, hypotension, tachycardia, tachypnoea, jaundice, digestive haemorrhage, petechiae in her soles, oliguria with elevation of serum uraemia and creatinine, anaemia, thrombocytopaenia, hypoproteinaemia, hyponatraemia, hypocalcaemia, metabolic acidosis and parameters of disseminated intravascular coagulation. She was given quinine, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and clindamycin. An exchange transfusion was performed, during which an acute pulmonary oedema appeared, initially with high pulmonary artery wedge pressure. She required mechanical ventilation for 16 days and haemodialysis for 11 days. She remained in coma and had seizures which required diazepam, phenitoin and thiopentone. She received a total amount of 22 units of packed erythrocytes, 55 of platelets and 15 of plasma. After the first week, she had nosocomial infection due to Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and was treated with the corresponding antibiotics. She cured completely. This case report gives us the possibility of discussing on frequent problems in the prevention and treatment of malaria, and on the treatment of severe, life-threatening malaria in the setting of the intensive care unit.