Search Tag: post-ICU
2022 09 Nov
In recent years, health diaries have become an important tool for patients and providers to manage personal health. A health diary is a record of a patient's overall health and wellness, which the patient writes to keep track of different aspects of their health. Studies show that greater self-care behaviours, such as the use of symptom diaries, improve...Read more
2021 30 Mar
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant strain on healthcare and critical care services worldwide. While most resources have focused on acutely ill patients, the burden of patients who have been chronically affected by COVID-19 will remain. From what we know of COVID-19 so far, a significant number of patients show symptoms that last more...Read more
2020 24 Nov
“The success of intensive care has not to be measured only by survival statistics, as though each death is a medical failure. It has to be measured by the quality of lives preserved or restored and by the quality of dying of those in whose interest is to die.” This statement of G. R. Dunstan, Prof. of Morals and Social Theology, dating back to 1995,...Read more
2020 24 Nov
N umerous patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) every year. Many of these critically ill patients receive multiple interventions to treat and manage acute conditions and prevent further deterioration. However, these treatments can often affect a patient's mind and body. That is why many ICU survivors, as they transition out of the...Read more
2020 24 Nov
An overview of the Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) and the challenges faced by critical care patients post-ICU. Read more
2019 06 Mar
With multiple advances in critical care, more patients are given the chance to survive life-threatening illnesses such as sepsis. This growing cohort of patients, however, grapples with a new challenge – post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). A raft of symptoms, including muscle weakness, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),...Read more
2016 27 Sep
A New Model for ICU Rehabilitation It is now well established that many patients and caregivers suffer physical, psychological and social problems in the years and months following critical care discharge (Herridge et al. 2011). Similar to many centres, our intensive care unit (ICU) had no follow-up service available to support patients...Read more
2016 15 Jun
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses has announced publication of a collection of articles on how to address post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) both for the patient and for the family. The resource, “Symposium: Patient and Family Post–Intensive Care Syndrome” is published in AACN Advanced Critical Care , April-June 2016 edition....Read more
2016 30 May
A Canadian study has found that caregivers of ICU survivors experience symptoms of depression up to 1 year after their relative is discharged (Cameron et al. 2016). Factors associated with worse mental health symptoms included younger age and less social support and sense of control over life. Older caregivers caring for a spouse, with a higher...Read more
2016 26 Apr
Young, female ARDS survivors, who were unemployed prior to ICU admission, are at greatest risk of psychiatric symptoms following discharge. And it is not the sickest patients with the longest ICU stay who are most at risk, according to the results from a multicentre national U.S. study, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers and published in Critical...Read more
2016 25 Apr
While much is known about inflammation during acute critical illness, as yet little is known about inflammation that persists after ICU discharge. And no studies on the association between inflammation and physical recovery were identified by the authors of a systematic review published in the Journal of Critical Care . Their review is intended as...Read more
2015 06 Oct
While survival after ICU has improved, more needs to be known about health-related quality of life for the survivors.Lotti Orwelius, Sweden presented a study from the Swedish Intensive Care Registry on health-related quality of life at 2, 6 and 12 months after critical illness. Their study followed up over 4,900 patients and was presented at the European...Read more