Support groups for ‘ICU survivors’ are springing up. But will patients traumatized by intensive care show up?
Survival can seem like the only goal during a stay in a hospital’s intensive care unit. But for many patients, the aftermath can be just as harrowing. Now, an international initiative has launched support groups designed to help those who have left the ICU — if they can be persuaded to come in and talk about their struggles.
“There’s this broad world that exists between surviving and recovering,” said Dr. Daniela Lamas, a critical care doctor who works in the ICU at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Some patients return home disabled, unable to work or even care for themselves. Others are traumatized by being put on life support. Caregivers struggle, too; they may still be reeling from days or weeks fearing the worst. Doctors have given those symptoms an umbrella diagnosis: post-intensive care syndrome, or PICS.
