The Incidence of Appropriate Dexmedetomidine Use Within a Large Health Care System

Abstract

Specific Aims: To describe the overall incidence of appropriate dexmedetomidine use within a large health system. Methods: Retrospective, observational chart review of patients >/=18 years old, admitted to the ICU, and administered dexmedetomidine between 10/1/2018 and 10/31/2019. Evaluated the indication for use, duration of therapy, drug infusion rates, bolus doses, RASS scores, and concurrent medications. Main Results: Charts were reviewed for 748 patients. The highest indication for use was sedation for mechanical ventilation (51.1%), followed by extubation facilitation (20.2%) and procedural sedation (14.7%). The average duration of use was 3.23 days at 4.1% of patients received a bolus dose. Conclusions: The Banner Health facilities in this study appeared to be prescribing dexmedetomidine based on current published evidence.