Analgesic and Sedative Agents Used in the Intensive Care Unit: A Review Publisher Pubmed



Panahi Y¹ ; Dehcheshmeh HS² ; Mojtahedzadeh M^{3, 4} ; Joneidijafari N⁵ ; Johnston TP⁶ ; Sahebkar A^{7, 8, 9} Show Affiliations
Source: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry Published:2018

Abstract

Pain is a common experience for most patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). In the current study, the advantages and disadvantages of analgesic and sedative drugs used in the ICU are reviewed. An ideal sedative and analgesic agent should have features such as rapid onset of action, rapid recovery after discontinuation, predictability, minimal accumulation of the agent and metabolites in the body, and lack of toxicity. None of the sedative and analgesic agents have all of these desired characteristics; nevertheless, clinicians must be familiar with these classes of drugs to optimize pharmacotherapy and ensure as few side-effects as possible for ICU patients. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.