ICU Follow-Up Clinics

ICU follow-up clinics have been proposed and, in some cases, adopted in an effort to improve post-ICU care. Clinics are heterogeneous in staffing and organization and may provide a range of services, from drug reconciliation to mental health referrals. Some clinics integrate support services for family members and caregivers. In other cases, the clinics exist largely as a research environment where they may help to better understand long-term outcomes of survivors of critical illness. Thus far, clinical trials have not shown these clinics to improve patient-centred outcomes or to be cost-effective. However, qualitative literature does suggest a subjective sense of benefit for patients and family members. The lack of quantitative evidence in support of clinics does not mean that the long-term needs of ICU patients cannot be addressed in a formal way. However, it does suggest that clinics are not effective as delivered in the trials. Critical care researchers should be directed by both the qualitative and quantitative literature in conceiving new interventions and testing them in clinical trials. The model of an interdisciplinary clinic including rehabilitation specialists should be further explored.