Pain, Agitation, Delirium and Sleep Deprivation Assessment and Management in Intensive Care Units, Thailand: a Before-after Study

Pain is frequently reported in patients admitted to an ICU, with an incidence of up to 50% in medical patients during admission, and increasing up to 80% during standard care procedures. Agitation was also reported in 52% of the patients, typically within 4-9 days after admission. However, there were studies reporting inadequate pain, agitation and delirium assessment and management in real-world clinical practice. The clinical practice guideline for the management of pain, agitation/sedation, delirium, immobility, and sleep disruption in adult patients in the ICU was recently published in 2018 and emphasized routinely monitoring pain, agitation and delirium during ICU admissions. Also, appropriate management of pain and agitation in critically ill patients resulted in reduction in ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, delirium and mortality. Therefore, structural pain, agitation/sedation, delirium assessment and treatment in the ICUs, Thailand might be necessary.

Since pain, agitation/sedation and delirium protocol has not yet been initiated in ICUs, Thailand, this study is designed as a before-after study in order to assess outcomes by comparing between before and after protocol initiation. The objectives of the study were to document the impact of pain, agitation/sedation, delirium protocol on clinical outcomes of ICU patients admitted to ICUs at Ramathibodi Hospital, a university hospital, Thailand