A Wake-Up Call in the Intensive Care Unit

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Abstract
In few other areas of medicine is the saying “you can't get something for nothing” more true than in the intensive care unit. Modern advances in critical care have offered patients opportunities for survival that did not exist in earlier eras. The invasive therapeutic interventions and round-the-clock monitoring that constitute these advances, however, have created a potentially harrowing experience for many patients. The price often paid for survival includes sleep deprivation, pain, anxiety, depression, agitation, and delirium. Unfortunately, no data support the presumption that naturally occurring amnesia protects patients from these discomforts. More than 70 percent of patients vividly recollect . . .