Patients with COVID-19 are staying longer than the average three to four days in the intensive care unit (ICU), says Megan Hosey, a rehabilitation psychologist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s medical ICU. This puts them at greater risk for developing post-intensive care syndrome (PICS).

While more patients than ever are surviving after treatment in the ICU, research over the last two decades shows that survival can come with the cluster of physical, psychological and cognitive symptoms associated with PICS — hindering patients’ quality of life for weeks or years to come. Although the exact prevalence of PICS is unknown, “it happens in more patients than we probably realize,” says Hosey, and it is occurring in some patients with COVID-19.