Psychological consequences of critical illness: What is the long term impact on patients and how can nurses help?

Abstract

There is a plethora of psychological consequences of being critically ill and being admitted to an intensive care unit that affects the surviving patient.Many patients do not remember much from their time in the intensive care unit and this may complicate their recovery after a critical illness.The long term psychological consequences of being critically ill may have an adverse effect on the patient's quality of life. Follow-up services have been shown to be helpful in the patient's recovery after a critical illness.Patients' diaries, written for them while in the intensive care unit, have been positively evaluated as an important part of the follow-up service for critically ill patients.