Correlation of Sedation Depth During Critical Care Transport and Hospitalization

Purpose: We aim to assess the impact of the exposure to deep versus light sedation by a critical care transport agency during prehospital and interhospital transport on hospital sedation levels, medication exposure, and outcomes of mechanically ventilated patients. Materials and Methods: Retrospective cohort review of mechanically ventilated adult critical care transport patients from January 1, 2019, to March 11, 2020, who arrived at an academic medical center. The primary outcome was the correlation of deep sedation during transport with deep sedation within the first 48 h of hospitalization (defined as Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale [RASS] -3 to -5). The secondary outcomes were duration of mechanical ventilation, hospital length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, inpatient mortality, delirium within 48 h, and coma within 48 h. Results: One hundred and ninety-eight patients were included, of whom 183 (92.4%) were deeply sedated during transport which persisted through the first 48 h of hospital care. Deep sedation during transport was not correlated with deep sedation in the hospital within the first 48 h (OR 2.41; 95% CI, 0.48-12.02). There was no correlation with hospital length of stay, ICU length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, or hospital mortality. Deep sedation during transport was not correlated with delirium or coma within the first 48 h of hospitalization. There was a negligible correlation between final transport RASS and initial hospital RASS which did not differ based on the lapsed time from handoff (<1 h corr. coeff. 0.23; ≥1 h corr. coeff. 0.25). Conclusions: Deep sedation was observed during critical care transport in this cohort and was not correlated with deep sedation during the first 48 h of hospitalization. The transition of care between the transport team and the hospital team may be an opportunity to disrupt therapeutic momentum and re-evaluate sedation decisions.