Epidural Analgesia for Pain Management in the Intensive Care Unit

The pain of patients admitted into the ICU remains poorly reported and managed. It has been reported that about half of patients admitted to both medical and surgical ICU experienced significant pain during their stay in the unit. Most of these patients tend to develop psycho-traumatic experiences both while in the unit and after discharge. This chapter thus highlights the drawback of poor pain management of critically ill patients and the role of epidural analgesia in contributing to better pain control in the ICU