Post-ICU symptoms, consequences, and follow-up: an integrative review

To determine the symptoms seen in patients after discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU) and the follow-up programmes offered to help patients deal with the problems that arise after an ICU stay.An increasing number of people are discharged from an ICU to continued treatment, care and rehabilitation in general hospital wards, rehabilitation facilities and at home. A prolonged stay in an ICU is associated with stressful memories that have long-term physical, mental and social consequences for health-related quality of life. We therefore conducted a data search to identify the programmes that have attempted to cope with these consequences.