Nurse titrated analgesia and sedation in intensive care increases the frequency of comfort assessment and reduces midazolam use in paediatric patients following cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Pain and sedation protocols are suggested to improve the outcomes of patients within paediatric intensive care. However, it is not clear how protocols will influence practice within individual units. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate a nurse led pain and sedation protocols impact on pain scoring and analgesic and sedative administration for post-operative cardiac patients within a paediatric intensive care unit. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on 100 patients admitted to a tertiary paediatric intensive care unit pre and post introduction of an analgesic and sedative protocol. Stata12 was used to perform Chi-squared or Student's t-test to compare data between the groups. RESULTS: Post protocol introduction documentation of pain assessments increased (pre protocol 3/24h vs post protocol 5/24h, p=0.006). Along with a reduction in administration of midazolam (57.6mcg/kg/min pre protocol vs 24.5mcg/kg/min post protocol, p=0.0001). Children's pain scores remained unchanged despite this change, with a trend towards more scores in the optimal range in the post protocol group (5 pre protocol vs 12 post protocol, p=0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Introducing a pain and sedation protocol changed bedside nurse practice in pain and sedation management. The protocol has enabled nurses to provide pain and sedation management in a consistent and timely manner and reduced the dose of midazolam required to maintain comfort according to the patients COMFORT B scores. Individual evaluation of practice change is recommended to units who implement nurse led analgesic and sedative protocols to monitor changes in practice.

How does the introduction of a pain and sedation management guideline in the paediatric intensive care impact on clinical practice? A comparison of audits pre and post guideline introduction.

UNLABELLED: Despite the use of guidelines to inform practice for pain and sedation management there are few evaluations of the effect of their introduction on clinical practice. Previous evaluations of the protocols and guidelines used to manage pain and sedation in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) report increases in pain and sedation medication administration post guideline introduction. In most reported cases the guideline was accompanied by a treatment algorithm. To our knowledge there is no published data on the effect of introducing a guideline without a treatment algorithm on pain and analgesia administration. PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact the introduction of a pain and sedation guideline will have on clinical practice. METHODS: A 19 bed PICU was audited for one month prior to the introduction of a guideline and one month post. FINDINGS: The proportion of patients receiving oral Clonidine increased (p=0.001) and the administration of Ketamine, particularly via bolus (p=0.003), reduced after the introduction of the guideline. The use of a validated pain tool to assess pain increased by 25% and communication of management plans increased by 25%. The documentation of the use of boluses increased by 36%. CONCLUSION: The introduction of a clinical practice guideline for pain and sedation management in PICU contributes to changes in medication administration, use of validated pain assessments, improved documentation of boluses and communication of management plans.