Brief description of media:

Five key mechanisms were identified as drivers of improvement back into the ICU: (1) identifying otherwise unseen targets for ICU quality improvement or education programs—new ideas for quality improvement were generated and greater attention paid to detail in clinical care. (2) Creating a new role for survivors in the ICU—former patients and family members adopted an advocacy or peer volunteer role. (3) Inviting critical care providers to the post-ICU program to educate, sensitize, and motivate them—clinician peers and trainees were invited to attend as a helpful learning strategy to gain insights into post-ICU care requirements. (4) Changing clinician’s own understanding of patient experience—there appeared to be a direct individual benefit from working in post-ICU programs. (5) Improving morale and meaningfulness of ICU work—this was achieved by closing the feedback loop to ICU clinicians regarding patient and family outcomes.

Brief description of media:

Patients in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) frequently undergo laboratory and imaging testing. These tests can lead to iatrogenic anemia and radiation exposure. Many of these tests may be unnecessary for the management of a patient’s illness in the surgical ICU, and their ordering may be a reflex rather than in response to a clinical question. Checklists have been used in critical care to identify and address patient care strategies.

Brief description of media:

The long run physical, cognitive and emotional consequences of admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) are well-known. However, the ongoing debate on the best practices supporting the former ICU patients and their relatives for these consequences, is still inconclusive. A new method, ‘Balance-training’, has been developed to stimulate the regaining of emotional and physical capability.

Brief description of media:

This information booklet is largely aimed at assisting the patient in recovery following a period of critical illness. However, from experience, it is evident that the relatives need to read this first. During the first few days after leaving the ICU, the patient may be unable to concentrate, understand and apply the information to themselves. By reading this booklet the relatives will hopefully gain an understanding of what the patient is going through, and this helps them to be actively involved in the patient's recovery and rehabilitation.

Brief description of media:

This information booklet is largely aimed at assisting the patient in recovery following a period of critical illness. However, from experience, it is evident that the relatives need to read this first. During the first few days after leaving the ICU, the patient may be unable to concentrate, understand and apply the information to themselves. By reading this booklet the relatives will hopefully gain an understanding of what the patient is going through, and this helps them to be actively involved in the patient's recovery and rehabilitation. The RaCI team are available to support both the patient and the relatives throughout the rehabilitation process - the contact number for the team is on the cover and page 2 of this booklet.

Brief description of media:

Many are struggling to overcome a range of troubling residual symptoms of the coronavirus, and some problems may persist for months, years or even the rest of their lives. Patients who are returning home after being hospitalized for severe respiratory failure from the virus are confronting physical, neurological, cognitive and emotional issues.

Brief description of media:

Improvements in quality of care have resulted in a growing population of patients who survive critical illness each year. However, these intensive care unit (ICU) survivors frequently report a wide range of complications that may persist for months to years after their hospital discharge, calling attention to a need for extended support.

Brief description of media:

This booklet deals with some common problems that people may experience when they leave intensive care. However, everyone is different, and you might find you do not experience any of these problems at all. If you do, we have tried to offer some ways of dealing with them, which we hope will be helpful to you and your family.

Brief description of media:

A stay in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) can be daunting. Wires, tubes, beeping monitors, unfamiliar noises lurking in the background, and the constant fear of whether you will make it through the illness. For critically ill patients who survive, the near-death experience can leave a lasting impact on their health. The road to recovery, then, stretches way beyond getting off the ventilator and coming back home. Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) is characterized by physical, cognitive and psychological symptoms that appear after a patient leaves the ICU.

Brief description of media:

The THRIVE Peer Support Collaborative is a worldwide partnership between survivors, clinicians, hospitals and SCCM to learn how to create stable, useful in-person support groups. Some of the Collaborative member sites may have support groups available to those in their geographical areas. To learn more about these sites, contact support@THRIVE.org. If you don't see a site in your area, email and tell us a little about yourself. Even if we do not yet have a group in your area, your story can help us identify where we should go next or you may join a virtual support network.

Brief description of media:

Current evidence on the efficacy and safety of living-donor liver transplantation appears adequate to support the use of this procedure for suitable donors and recipients with normal arrangements for clinical governance, consent, and audit, provided that the necessary regulatory requirements are followed.

Clinicians and centres doing this procedure must follow the relevant regulatory and legal requirements of the Human Tissue Authority. This includes carrying out independent assessment interviews and getting statutory approval from the Human Tissue Authority before donation can proceed. During the consent process donors and recipients should have thorough physical and psychological screening and monitoring, and counselling about the morbidity and risks associated with this procedure. They should also be provided with clear written information, including relevant information provided by the Human Tissue Authority. In addition, the use of NICE's information for the public is recommended.

Living-donor liver transplantation should only be done in accordance with the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Organ Donation and Transplantation Liver Advisory Group's Liver Selection Policy and the British Transplantation Society's guidelines for Directed Altruistic Organ Donation, taking into account the legal framework for living donation from the Human Tissue Authority. Non-directed altruistic donation is a possibility and should be discussed with a transplant centre or team.

Living-donor liver transplantation should be carried out in specialist centres by a multidisciplinary team. Clinicians should enter details about all donors and recipients having living-donor liver transplantation into the NHSBT UK transplant registry and review clinical outcomes locally.

Brief description of media:

Early on, patients with both mild and severe Covid-19 say they can’t breathe. Now, after recovering from the infection, some of them say they can’t think. Even people who were never sick enough to go to a hospital, much less lie in an ICU bed with a ventilator, report feeling something as ill-defined as “Covid fog” or as frightening as numbed limbs. They’re unable to carry on with their lives, exhausted by crossing the street, fumbling for words, or laid low by depression, anxiety, or PTSD.