Sedation and ABCDEF Bundle in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Advances in science and technology in pediatric critical care medicine have led to significantly improved survival of children with critical illness. Recent studies focused on neurofunctional outcomes of the children following pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) care and stated that declining neurofunctional status occurs in 3%-20% of childen requiring PICU care. Patients with unfavorable neurofunctional were more likely to have required mechanical ventilation and to have had longer duration PICU length of stay. Sedation related adverse effects have a great impact on the length of intensive care stay. Recent research focuses on early identification and treatment of modifiable risk factors for unfavorable outcomes. ABCDEF bundlle represent an evidence-based guide for clinicians to approch the organizational changes needed for optimizing ICU patient recovery and outcomes.