Abstract
Background
Recovery following critical illness is complex due to the many challenges patients face which influence their long-term outcomes. We explored patients’ views about facilitators of recovery after critical illness which could be used to inform the components and timing of specific rehabilitation interventions.
Aims
To explore the views of patients after discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU) about their recovery and factors that facilitated recovery, and to determine additional services that patients felt were missing during their recovery.
Methods
Qualitative study involving individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews at six months (n = 11) and twelve months (n = 10). Written, informed consent was obtained. [Ethics approval 17/NI/0115]. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using template analysis.
Findings
Template analysis revealed four core themes: (1) Physical activity and function; (2) Recovery of cognitive and emotional function; (3) Facilitators to recovery; and (4) Gaps in healthcare services.
Conclusion
Patient reported facilitators to recovery include support and guidance from others and self-motivation and goal setting, equipment for mobility and use of technology. Barriers include a lack of follow up services, exercise rehabilitation, peer support and personal feedback. Patients perceived that access to specific healthcare services was fragmented and where services were unavailable this contributed to slower or poorer quality of recovery. ICU patient recover could be facilitated by a comprehensive rehabilitation intervention that includes patient-directed strategies and health care services.
Recovery following critical illness is complex due to the many challenges patients face which influence their long-term outcomes. We explored patients’ views about facilitators of recovery after critical illness which could be used to inform the components and timing of specific rehabilitation interventions.
Aims
To explore the views of patients after discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU) about their recovery and factors that facilitated recovery, and to determine additional services that patients felt were missing during their recovery.
Methods
Qualitative study involving individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews at six months (n = 11) and twelve months (n = 10). Written, informed consent was obtained. [Ethics approval 17/NI/0115]. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using template analysis.
Findings
Template analysis revealed four core themes: (1) Physical activity and function; (2) Recovery of cognitive and emotional function; (3) Facilitators to recovery; and (4) Gaps in healthcare services.
Conclusion
Patient reported facilitators to recovery include support and guidance from others and self-motivation and goal setting, equipment for mobility and use of technology. Barriers include a lack of follow up services, exercise rehabilitation, peer support and personal feedback. Patients perceived that access to specific healthcare services was fragmented and where services were unavailable this contributed to slower or poorer quality of recovery. ICU patient recover could be facilitated by a comprehensive rehabilitation intervention that includes patient-directed strategies and health care services.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0297012 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 18 Mar 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published online - 18 Mar 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright: © 2024 O’Neill et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Data Access Statement
The data supporting the findings reported in this paper will be openly available upon acceptance of the manuscript from Ulster University’s Research Portal at https://doi.org/10.21251/a950628f-08ec-4897-9fd0-5c43ecabca94. All other relevant data is within the manuscript and its Supporting Information filesFunding
NG received funding from the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) for her PhD, which the current study was part of, in addition to Seed Funding provided by the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Facility (NICRF). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
-
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
Keywords
- Critical care
- ICU survivors
- perceptions
- qualitative research
- patient rehabilitation
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