The PubMed record describes an article titled Patient-Directed Sedation: An Evolving Approach for Reducing ICU Symptoms by John W. Devlin, published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society. The item is listed as online ahead of print on 2026 Aug 20 with article identifier aaoag254. Bibliographic identifiers provided in the record are DOI 10.1093/annalsats/aaoag254 and PMID 42623039.
This PubMed entry provides core citation details but does not include an abstract or the full article text within the record. Readers interested in full methodology, results, or recommendations should retrieve the full text via the DOI, the journal platform, or institutional access.
The author listed is John W. Devlin. The affiliation given in the PubMed record is the Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences, Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, and the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mass General Brigham, Boston, MA, United States. No additional author information, coauthors, or biographical details are provided in this PubMed citation.
The PubMed record lists the following keywords: anxiety; delirium; dexmedetomidine; intensive care; patient-controlled; sedation. These terms indicate the article’s topical emphasis on strategies to manage ICU symptoms — specifically anxiety and delirium — using patient-directed or patient-controlled sedation approaches and that dexmedetomidine is among agents of interest.
The combination of keywords and title implies an exploration of the concept of patient-directed sedation in the intensive care unit, including relevance to symptom reduction and potential roles for patient participation in sedation management.
This PubMed entry explicitly indicates that there is No abstract available in the record. As a result, the following details are not reported in this source and cannot be inferred from it: study design, sample size, patient populations, intervention protocols, outcomes measured, comparative results, statistical findings, adverse events, or clinical recommendations.
Users should note the presence of DOI and PMID in the citation to locate the full article. Accessing the full text is necessary to obtain the evidence base, detailed methods, and conclusions that the author presents.
From the title and indexed keywords alone, the article addresses the evolving practice of enabling patient involvement in sedation within the ICU, framed as an approach to reduce symptoms commonly experienced in critical care settings, such as anxiety and delirium. The inclusion of dexmedetomidine among keywords suggests the author discusses pharmacologic considerations or specific sedative agents relevant to patient-directed or patient-controlled strategies.
The record signals clinical interest in models that allow patients greater control over their sedation, potentially aligning with broader critical care priorities around symptom reduction, patient-centered care, and minimization of oversedation. However, the PubMed entry does not supply the data required to evaluate effectiveness, safety, or practical implementation.
Limitation: This record contains only bibliographic metadata and keywords; no abstract or summary content is provided. Consequently, evidence-based appraisal—such as assessment of study design, outcome measures, efficacy, safety, and applicability to practice—cannot be performed using this source alone.
Next steps recommended for clinicians and researchers interested in the topic:
Use the DOI (10.1093/annalsats/aaoag254) or PMID (42623039) to access the full text from the Annals of the American Thoracic Society or through institutional library services.
Review the full article for explicit information on study methods, patient selection, sedation protocols (including any patient-controlled dosing parameters), reported outcomes related to anxiety, delirium, and other ICU symptoms, and any discussion of dexmedetomidine use.
Evaluate the article’s evidence level and relevance to local practice before considering changes to sedation protocols or implementation of patient-directed sedation strategies in the ICU.
This summary is based solely on the PubMed/NCBI citation record for the article (PMID: 42623039; DOI: 10.1093/annalsats/aaoag254). The PubMed entry states there is no abstract available; therefore, all substantive content and data must be obtained from the article itself.