WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC
• Mechanically ventilated adult ICU patients experience various distressing symptoms.
• Nurses’ beliefs and attitudes about the discomfort of ventilated patients influence their assessment and sedation practices.
• Single-symptom scales and sedation scales have been developed to improve the consistency of the assessment of the discomfort and
sedation needs of ICU patients.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS
• Nurses underestimated the occurrence of pain, anxiety and delirium in mechanically ventilated adult ICU patients, whereas CIP/CIM was
perceived as highly prevalent.
• Agitation and facial grimacing were considered the most important signs of undersedation and response to contact, wakefulness, cough
reflex, and muscle tone as the most important signs of oversedation.
• The signs that nurses considered important corresponded best to the Comfort Scale and Adoption to the Intensive Care Environment tools.