Tramèr M: Analgesia and sedation in critically ill patients. Swiss Med Wkly 2004

In critically ill patients there are three ratio-nales for adequate analgesia and sedation. Firstly, analgesia and sedation ensure an optimal level of comfort; the patient should have no more than moderate pain and should be calm and alert. Sec-ondly, analgesia and sedation are thought to reduce the “stress response ” that is related to inflamma-tion and trauma. Thirdly, analgesia and sedation facilitate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, as well as nursing care. Analgesia is the act of blunting pain, chiefly through administration of drugs which exert an effect on the peripheral or central nervous system, but also through positioning of the patient, stabil-ising fractures and minimising harmful physica