Induction agents are administered to decrease the risk of discomfort, awareness, and psychological sequelae during procedural paralysis (eg, rapid sequence intubation). The expected duration of nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents exceeds that of induction sedatives. The resulting sedation gap may increase the risk of awake paralysis.
The objective of this study was to elucidate the prevalence and duration of sedation gaps in critically ill patients undergoing bedside procedural paralysis.
This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of critically ill adults who received rocuronium for a bedside procedure. The primary outcome was the sedation gap, which was the cumulative time of inadequate sedation during presumed paralysis (ie, 60 min after rocuronium). Secondary outcomes included the sedation gap when a pharmacist was present at the bedside. Descriptive statistics were used for baseline characteristics and the primary outcome. Log-rank and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze secondary outcomes.
Eighty patients were included in the final analysis. The average age was 60 years and 57% of patients were male. The most common indication for procedural paralysis was rapid sequence intubation (99%). Most procedures were performed in the ED (55%), followed by the ICU (43.8%). Eighty-five percent of patients experienced a sedation gap of any duration. The median sedation gap was 19 min (interquartile range [IQR], 4-47.5 min). The probability of initiating adequate sedation was higher when a pharmacist was present at the bedside (hazard ratio, 1.49 [95% CI, 1.42-1.55], bootstrapping log-rank test). The median sedation gap with a pharmacist (11 min [IQR, 3-27.5 min]) was significantly lower than without a pharmacist (40 min [IQR, 17-55 min]; P = .0115, Mann-Whitney U test).
In this critically ill cohort, a substantial prevalence and duration of inadequate sedation was experienced after receiving rocuronium for bedside procedures. Further study is needed to identify if sedation gaps correlate with an increased risk of psychological morbidities.
More than 90,000 children and adults in the United States are hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation annually, and between 5% and 34% of these hospitalizations include admission to an ICU. It is unclear how adolescent and young adults with severe asthma exacerbations are triaged in the inpatient setting between PICUs and adult ICUs. Using a large multicenter US cohort, we characterized how hospitals triage adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations between PICUs and adult ICUs.
How do hospitals across the United States triage adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations between PICUs and adult ICUs?
This was a retrospective cohort study carried out from 2016 through 2022 using the enhanced-claims PINC AI database. Participants were patients aged 12 to 26 years who were hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation and admitted to a PICU or adult ICU. We used nested hierarchical multivariable regression models to quantify changes in the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; a measure of variation in triage decisions attributable to hospital of admission after accounting for covariables).
Analyses included 3,946 admissions from 93 hospitals. Stratified by age, the percent of patients admitted to PICUs dropped by 26.9% between 17 and 18 years of age. In the nested models, the ICC showed a large decrease going from the empty model (28.7%) to the age-adjusted model (4.5%), but was similar between the age-adjusted and fully adjusted model (3.4%).
Our results showed that among adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations, age of 18 years or younger was a strong determinant of PICU triage. Further research is needed to understand differences in asthma care and outcomes between PICUs and adult ICUs, as well as how intermediate care units affect triage decision-making from wards and the ED.