Sedative drugs in patients are used in ventilated Patients to reduce anxiety and also to reduce instability of the cardiovascular to maintain ventilator synchrony in the patient. Propofol is a commonly used drug in sedation but this drug has analgesic properties that are used to control pain in ventilated patients. The problem with this kind of drug is that it is very addictive when it is used over some time to the ventilated patient and this can bring other problems in the patient like respiratory depression and the patient always find it difficult to exuberate.
Sleep is very important for terminally ill patients because it facilitates quick healing to patients and this is why medical personnel will use sedatives to ventilated patients so that the patient can achieve the right balance in sleep because patients who are having enough sleep will recover quickly.
The use of sedation in patients who are in the ICU is commonly used to promote sleep and reduce the anxiety which sometimes is found in these patients and this will ultimately optimize the care that is given to these patients, the, most commonly used type of drug in the ICU is midazolam and lorazepam. Continued usage of these two drugs will cause over sedation and will cause the patient to develop pneumonia and this can lead to death it is not diagnosed earlier. “Sometimes oversedation of midazolam and lorazepam will cause the patient not recovering quickly and this will lead the patient to overstay in the hospital or the ICU” (Parrillo 2001).
“Benzodiazepines (BNZs) is a commonly used type of drug in sedation for ventilated patients” (Leikin 2007). This type of drug usually interacts with the body-specific receptors and is part of gamma-aminobutyric acid. This type of drug will depend on the body of the patient because the effect of this particular drug can be reversed by an antagonist This type of drug is safe if it is safely used but when it is associated with alcohol which is usually used in cirrhotic patients it will depress the respiratory center and the effect of this will induce apnea in the terminally ill patient. “The other effect of this type of a drug, as it was observed in other patients is that it caused depression in patients” (Mohr 2004). “The depression has been brought about by direct effects on hemodynamics in addition to indirect effect when it blocks ‘adrenergic drive’ in the patient” (Lachmann 2007).
Propofol is an extreme lipophilic drug and it is used generally for terminal patients to induce and maintain anesthesia inpatient. This type of drug was recently allowed to be used as a sedative in the I.C.U. the main purpose of using this type of drug in terminally ill patients is because it can dissolve fats emulsion in the patient body, an example of that fat which is found in the patient body is glycerol. Propofol has a quick response and this will prompt the patent to arousal after a single dose. This type of drug metabolism can be extracted by the kidneys. Some problems are being associated with this drug cause it causes transient elevation to the patients and to the extent it will cause allergic reactions to the patient. his type of drug in the terminally ill patient will cause cardiovascular and respiratory depression effect in the patient and sometimes it may affect the heart rate of the patient. “In some incidents, this type of drug has brought infectious complications to patients and this has been brought about by contamination by fat emulsion which is found in the patient body” (Hogarth 2008).
Etomidate is this type of drug used to induce anesthesia to a ventilated patient, this kind of drug has shown some advantages when applied as a sedative to patients who are in ICU and is usually applied in emergency cases such as endotracheal and cardioversion procedures. This type of drug will produce hypnosis in patients and the patient will start to have nausea and the ventilated patient will feel like vomiting, it can cause seizures to ventilated patient. When this drug is mostly used in a ventilated patient it increases the mortality of the patient and this is a result of the suppression of adrenal steroidogenesis which is found in the human body.
Ketamine is a derivative of phencyclidine and the patient being administered with this drug will have anesthesia, and this is caused by the interactions between the drug and the neurotransmitter glutamic acid and this will be found in the limbic system. In this state is where the patient will the advantage of this type of drug is that it can be eliminated by the kidneys and has minimal respiratory depression which can be experienced in ventilated patients. The disadvantage of this type of drug is that it will increase the heart rate of the patient and also the blood pressure of the patient will increase. To some extend ketamine increases salivation and produces muscle movement in the patient body. “but the most worry doctors have when they use this type of drug is that the patient will hallucinate and delirium that why this type of drug is rarely used for patients who are in the ICU” (Barash 2009).
Reference List
Barash, P.G. (2009). Clinical Anesthesia. London: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Hogarth, D.K. (2008). Critical care medicine: just the facts. London: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Lachmann, B. (2007). Mechanical Ventilation: Clinical Applications and Pathophysiology.London: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Leikin, J.B. (2007). Poisoning and toxicology handbook. New York: Informa Health Care.
Mohr, J. P. (2004). Stroke: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. London: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Parrillo, J.E. (2001). Critical care medicine: principles of diagnosis and management in the adult. London: Elsevier Health Sciences.