Daily Care: Sedation:
Being on ECMO in and of itself does not require patients to be heavily sedated.
- In certain cases, sedation may be necessary to prevent the patient from moving and the cannula kinking.
- Just like other ICU patients, ECMO patients need to be rehabilitated and benefit from mobilization and physiotherapy.
- The same sedation principles apply: ECMO patients should receive enough sedation to keep them pain-free and comfortable.
- Drug pharmacokinetics can be altered on ECMO, see the Drugs and ECMO section for further details.
Next page: Daily care of the ECMO patient: Invasive procedures