Daily Sedation Review Audit

Free projects are complete and ready to use. Paid projects can also be adapted to your local requirements. This project uses a fixed Lazomis clinical configuration of 40 audit criteria across cohort and sedation context, daily sedation plan, sedation target and scoring, analgesia and pain assessment, delirium, agitation and neurological assessment, sedation hold, reduction or awakening decision, ventilation, weaning, mobilisation and rehabilitation, safety monitoring and adverse effects, and escalation, handover and continuity. Data collection, dashboards, findings, improvement planning, re-audit and every output are included at no cost.

• Intensivists, anaesthetists and advanced critical care practitioners
• Critical care nurses, outreach nurses and clinical educators
• Critical care pharmacists and physiotherapists
• QI, patient safety and clinical governance leads, and trainees needing ARCP-ready evidence

• Measure whether a daily sedation review, sedation plan and sedation indication are documented
• Review documentation of target sedation level, actual sedation score and action when outside target
• Review analgesia, pain assessment, delirium screening and neurological assessment alongside sedation
• Review sedation hold, reduction or awakening decisions and documentation of safety exceptions
• Review the link between sedation and ventilation, weaning, mobilisation, handover and senior review
• Generate governance-ready and ARCP-ready evidence

• Anonymised case number, critical care setting, review period, reviewer role and data source
• Age band, ventilation and tracheostomy status, sedation indication, neuromuscular blockade and neurological indication
• Sedation scale used, sedation status against target, pain assessment method and delirium screening tool
• Sedation hold status, outcome, documented safety exception, restraint use and review requirements
• 40 fixed audit criteria (Yes / No / Not applicable)
• Free-text learning points

• Live dashboard
• Audit report (Word)
• Executive summary (Word)
• Excel workbook
• PowerPoint presentation
• Conference poster
• ARCP evidence summary

• Designed to use anonymised or pseudonymised audit identifiers.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement.
• Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.
• Organisations remain responsible for local governance arrangements.
• This tool supports clinical audit and quality improvement. It does not replace clinical judgement, local policy, critical care or anaesthetic decision-making, medicines safety checks, specialist advice or urgent escalation pathways.
• It does not provide sedative prescribing advice, dose recommendations, ventilation decisions, extubation decisions, or a decision on whether sedation should be reduced or held.
• Daily sedation reduction or hold may be inappropriate in specific clinical situations. Any decision should follow local policy and senior clinical judgement.
• Severe agitation, device removal risk, hypoxaemia, ventilator dyssynchrony, haemodynamic instability, seizures, raised intracranial pressure, severe distress, suspected withdrawal or delirium, adverse drug effects or safeguarding concern should be managed according to local escalation pathways.
• Local critical care sedation, analgesia, delirium, ventilation, weaning, neuromuscular blockade, neurological observation, restraint, end-of-life care, safeguarding and escalation policies should be followed.
• Use anonymous case identifiers only — never patient-identifiable information.

Supporting guidance from the Lazomis QI Resource Library. Authoritative clinical standards referenced by this project remain separate.

• Clinical GovernanceIntegrating Quality Improvement into Clinical Governance FrameworksThis article explores the vital relationship between Quality Improvement (QI) and Clinical Governance within the NHS, demonstrating how they are two sides of the same coin when aiming for continuous, systematic improvement in patient care.
• Quality ImprovementPlanning Effective PDSA Cycles for Quality ImprovementThis guide provides a practical, step-by-step approach to planning effective Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles for quality improvement initiatives within the NHS, focusing on robust design and learning. It covers essential considerations from defining your aim to anticipating challenges, helping teams systematically test changes.
• Clinical GovernanceEffective Clinical Governance Meetings: Driving Improvement, Not Just ReportingThis guide helps NHS teams redefine their clinical governance meetings, moving beyond mere reporting to foster proactive discussion, shared learning, and tangible improvement actions for patient safety and quality of care.
• Patient SafetyMedicines Safety: A Systems Approach to Reducing HarmThis guide moves beyond individual error, explaining how a systems-based approach can fundamentally improve medicines safety across the NHS and reduce patient harm by addressing underlying contributing factors.