No sedation for patients receiving mechanical ventilation

Danish intensivists demonstrate that just bolusing morphine without sedatives results in fewer days on a ventilator and a shortened ICU and hospital stay. Obviously not appropriate for some patients (therapeutic hypothermia, head injury with raised ICP, etc.) and some patients randomised to the no sedation group eventually required sedation. Delirium was three times more common in the no sedation group (20% vs 7%).
A protocol of no sedation for critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation: a randomised trial
Lancet. 2010 Feb 6;375(9713):475-80