Using Propofol for sedation on vented pts?

[Scrubz]

Is Propofol used on vented patients? Since the half-life of Propofol is so short wouldn't it be more justified using a longer activing sedative? I assume that Propofol isn't used for long-term vented pts right? Maybe just initially?

I'm still in school so I have no experience with any of this other than what I hear or see, so thanks for any responses. I was just curious.

[HD-RN]

I LOVE IT...we usually use it for short term 4-6 days (if that) for sedation....then usually fent/versed gtt's. but i really do heart propofol because of the quickness. at our institution/ and in the ICU we only use it on vented pts. pretty strict on it too!

"you can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow." -janis joplin

[nursejill155]

We commonly use propofol on vented pt. we only use something else if the pt has pancreatitis or something that the propofol would just make worse. You can also use ativan or versed gtts with maybe a morphine or fentanyl gtt also to sedate a patient, it just depends.

[criticalcarenurse93]

Our unit uses diprivan but the trend is now leaning towards fentanyl. It does not seem to drop the BP as much and the patients appear more comfortable.

[JJRBuckeyeRN]

Propofol is great for neuro pts. You can turn it off and the pt will wake up quickly to do an accurate neuro assessment.

We check triglyceride levels dails on pts who are on propofol. If they are too high we will switch the pt to fentanyl and versed.

[Rainagrey]

We use propofol pretty regularly on my unit and (as far as I know) haven't had a case of propofol infusion syndrome. My question is, why do patients develop blue/green urine? I'm going to hop on uptodate and see what I can find out . . .