Psychological symptoms in difficult-to-sedate critical care survivors.

Background: Critical care survivors often experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Aims: To determine the prevalence and severity of psychological symptoms during the first 6 months after discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU) and to evaluate its association with patients who are difficult to sedate during admission.

Design: Descriptive, prospective analysis of psychological symptoms in survivors from medicosurgical ICU over a 2-year period.

Impact of difficult sedation on the management and outcome of critically ill patients.

Background: The term "difficult sedation" (DS) refers to situations of therapeutic failure, tolerance, or deprivation of the sedatives administered.

Aims: To characterize the profile of patients who developed DS and to assess its impact on the duration of mechanical ventilation (MV) and intensive care unit length of stay (ICU-LOS), as well as other complications related to their stay.

Design: A prospective descriptive analysis was conducted of the practices of analgesia/sedation in a medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) over a 2-year period.