What is post-intensive care syndrome? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Once you’ve made it through a stay in an intensive care unit, you can simply move forward in your life, right? Not exactly, as recent research indicates. So-called post intensive care syndrome, or PICS, can continue to impact the life of a person who has survived an ICU stay. Critical care medicine expert Rohan Mathur at Johns Hopkins explains.

Mathur: Oftentimes when we talk to patients and their loved ones about what it's like to be in the ICU we often describe it as a marathon instead of a sprint. It is arduous. It's very, very challenging. A patient’s body goes through so much stress from whatever critical illness they're facing, lot of things like breathing tubes, large IV's called central lines, sedation. People are often confused or delirious during their ICU stay. People don't always remember what happened. One of the things that we've identified is this post intensive care syndrome.     :32

Mathur says the if you or your loved ones are reporting ongoing issues after an ICU stay it may be helpful to talk with your primary care physician. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.