Millions of patients are treated in intensive care units (ICUs) each year, and the number of survivors is growing as a result of advances in critical care medicine. Unfortunately, many survivors of critical illness have substantial morbidity. Physical, psychological, and cognitive impairments are particularly common—so much so that a group of clinicians coined the term “post-intensive care syndrome” (PICS) to help raise awareness. Patients surviving critical illnesses are often quite weak, and physical therapy, hopefully starting in the ICU, is vital. But weakness is only one of the problems critical-illness survivors and their loved ones face. Unfortunately, many survivors are left with cognitive impairment (e.g., impaired memory, attention, and executive functioning), as well as distress-related psychiatric phenomena such as posttraumatic stress and depression. Importantly, these problems are not limited to adult patients, and loved ones also suffer. In this chapter the authors describe their personal journeys in coming to understand the suffering and issues that critical-illness survivors and their families face.
Post intensive care syndrome across the life course: Looking to the future of paediatric and adult critical care survivorship
