Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine

PURPOSE:

The purpose of the pain, agitation, and delirium (PAD) protocol is to:

1. Allow bedside clinicians to manage pain, agitation and delirium for the adult ventilated ICU patient
2. Guide the provider when ordering medications for pain, agitation and delirium.
3. Provide appropriate and safe dosing and monitoring guidelines.
4. Decrease adverse drug events related to medications in this protocol

The goal of the protocol is to:

1. Assess and treat pain and agitation using the Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT).
2. Maintain CPOT score less than 2.
3. Decrease the incidence of delirium by minimizing benzodiazapam use.
4. Treat delirium in ventilated patient with appropriate medications.
5. Decrease ventilator time, decrease ICU length of stay, and provide a means to adjust medications based on the patient’s CPOT.

Full POLICY: HFHS PAD Guidelines IV