The state of sedation in the nation: results of an Australian survey.

OBJECTIVE The authors conducted a postal survey to establish what the current sedative and analgesic practice in selected Australian intensive care units was. METHODS A questionnaire based on a European e-mail survey was devised and then posted to directors and senior Intensivists in 72 Australian intensive care units. RESULTS There were 47 returns out of 72 units. The most commonly used drugs were infusions of morphine and midazolam. A sedation scale was used in 21 of the units that replied to the survey. Only 7 units surveyed regularly audited complications related to sedation. The most common method of sedative/analgesic drug administration was by continuous infusion. CONCLUSIONS Despite recent recommendations for daily interruption of sedative agents and the use of a sedation scale, this was not the most common practice in Australian intensive care units. Most units used continuous infusions of midazolam and morphine for sedation/analgesia.