Impact of Patient and Family Involvement in Long-Term Outcomes.

Surviving a critical illness can have long-term effects on both patients and families. These effects can be physical, emotional, cognitive, and social, and they affect both the patient and the family. Family members play a key role in helping their loved one recover, and this recovery process can take considerable time. Transferring out of an intensive care unit, and discharging home from a hospital, are important milestones, but they represent only the beginning of recovery and healing after a critical illness. Recognizing that these challenges exist both for patients and families is important to improve critical illness outcomes.

Wanting to Forget: Intrusive and Delusional Memories from Critical Illness.

Introduction. Delusional and fearful memories after critical illness are observed in up to 70% of patients post critical illness. However, they often go unrecognized after patients leave the intensive care unit (ICU). Case Presentation. A 40-year-old male was admitted to the ICU with community-acquired pneumonia and multiorgan failure requiring mechanical ventilation and renal replacement therapy. He developed protracted delirium and severe ICU-acquired weakness but was eventually discharged home. The patient returned to a follow-up clinic two months post-ICU discharge and revealed that he was suffering anxiety from memories in the ICU of different staff trying to harm and kill him, including being repeatedly suffocated. By providing context to the memories, the patient had significant relief in his anxiety. Conclusions. Intrusive memories contribute to psychological morbidity post critical illness, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and reduced health-related quality of life. The majority of critical illness survivors do not share their intrusive or frightening memories, and therefore, most healthcare professionals are unaware of the problems they can pose. Assessment of patients' memories from the ICU is essential and may create the opportunity to help patients place memories into context and improve psychological morbidities.

Compassion fatigue in healthcare providers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Compassion fatigue is recognized as impacting the health and effectiveness of healthcare providers, and consequently, patient care. Compassion fatigue is distinct from "burnout." Reliable measurement tools, such as the Professional Quality of Life scale, have been developed to measure the prevalence, and predict risk of compassion fatigue. This study reviews the prevalence of compassion fatigue among healthcare practitioners, and relationships to demographic variables. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using key words in MEDLINE, PubMed, and Ovid databases. Data were extracted from a total of 71 articles meeting inclusion criteria, from studies measuring compassion fatigue in healthcare providers using a validated instrument. Quantitative and qualitative data were extracted and compiled by three independent reviewers into an evidence table that included basic study characteristics, study strength and quality determination, measurements of compassion fatigue, and general findings. Meta-analysis, where data allowed, was stratified by Professional Quality of Life version, heterogeneity was quantified, and pooled means were reported with 95% confidence interval. A table of major study characteristics and results was created. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION: This paper contains no primary data obtained directly from research participants. Data obtained from previously published resources have been acknowledged within references. Psychological distress, particularly compassion fatigue, can be insidious, no health profession is immune, and may significantly impact the ability to provide care. RESULTS: A total of 71 studies were included. Compassion fatigue was reported across all practitioner groups studied. Relationships to most demographic variables such as years of experience and specialty were either not statistically significant or unclear. Variability in reporting of Professional Quality of Life results was found. INTERPRETATION: Compassion fatigue exists across diverse practitioner groups. Prevalence is highly variable, and its relationship with demographic, personal, and/or professional variables is inconsistent. Questions are raised about how to mitigate compassion fatigue.

Epidemiology, Mechanical Power, and 3-Year Outcomes in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Patients Using Standardized Screening. An Observational Cohort Study.

Rationale: Limited data on the epidemiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) using a standardized screening program exist.Objectives: To describe the population-based incidence of hypoxemic respiratory failure and ARDS using a prospective standardized screening protocol; and to describe the mechanical ventilation practice and the mechanical power and examine their association with 28-day and 3-year survival outcomes.Methods: A prospective standardized screening program for ARDS, as a quality improvement initiative, was initiated at four adult intensive care units over a 27-month period. An ancillary analysis of this observational cohort was performed. Patients requiring mechanical ventilation for ≥24 hours underwent prospective and consecutive screening using standardized ventilator settings. Patient physiological data and outcomes were collected prospectively through an electronic clinical-information system and retrospectively analyzed to apply Berlin criteria.Results: Screened were 7,944 patients, among which 986 (12.4%) had hypoxemic respiratory failure (arterial oxygen tension to inspired fraction of oxygen ratio ≤300), and 731 (9.2%) met criteria for ARDS. Age-adjusted incidence of hypoxemic respiratory failure and ARDS were 37.7 and 27.6 cases per 100,000 person-years, respectively. Patients sustaining the diagnosis of ARDS had a hospital mortality of 26.5% for mild, 31.8% for moderate, and 60.0% for severe ARDS and a 3-year mortality of 43.5% for mild, 46.9% for moderate, and 71.1% for severe ARDS. Mechanical power >22 J/min was associated with increased 28-day hospital and 3-year mortality. Determinants of mechanical power associated with lower 28-day hospital and 3-year survival included plateau pressure >30 cm H2O and driving pressure >15 cm H2O, but not tidal volumes >8 ml/kg of predicted body weight.Conclusions: Using standardized screening, a large proportion of patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure met criteria for ARDS. Increasing ARDS severity was associated with increased 28-day hospital and 3-year mortality. Increased mechanical power was associated with increased mortality. Potentially modifiable determinants of mechanical power associated with lower survival included plateau pressure and driving pressure.