title: Development of the American association of critical-care nurses' sedation assessment scale for critically ill patients.
abstract: Clinicians commonly sedate critically ill patients. Sedatives should be administered to achieve predetermined end points. Most currently available scales used to assess sedation are inadequate because they focus on a single domain, such as consciousness. The development of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses' Sedation Assessment Scale is described. This new scale consists of 5 domains: consciousness, agitation, anxiety, sleep, and patient-ventilator synchrony. A major advantage of the scale is that its domains parallel common goals of sedation therapy for critically ill patients. The proposed measurements for each domain are based on a comprehensive evaluation of the science and expert recommendations. Before the scale is widely used, clinical testing is required to determine its validity and reliability in a variety of critically ill patients and care situations.
authors.affiliation: Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB, Tex., USA.
authors.forename: Maj Marla J
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: De Jong
authors.forename: Suzanne M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Margaret L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chulay
authors.forename: Mary Jo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Grap
authors.forename: Lynelle N B
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.forename: Terri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000451:nursing*; D003422:Critical Care; D016638:Critical Illness; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000592:standards*; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D012956:Societies, Nursing; D014481:United States