Using these studies as a starting point, the investigators conducted a prospective pilot study demonstrating that the use of intermittent sedation in medical intensive care unit patients significantly decreased amount of sedatives used, the hospital length of stay, and most importantly reduced duration of mechanical ventilation. In this study it was shown that intermittent sedation administered within twenty-four hours of mechanical ventilation reduced ventilation time by twenty-four hours (p<0.001). However, much like the studies that formed the basis of this pilot, this study suffered from some lack of control as well as small sample size. More importantly, this study analyzed only medically critically ill patients in whom large doses of narcotics are often not routinely employed. In surgical patients narcotics are often used concomitantly with a sedative in order to achieve anxiolysis and pain control while ventilated.