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Psychological problems following ICU treatment*
Author(s) -
Scragg P.,
Jones A.,
Fauvel N.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2044.2001.01714.x
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care unit , anxiety , intensive care , depression (economics) , checklist , hospital anxiety and depression scale , quality of life (healthcare) , traumatic stress , psychiatry , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , nursing , psychology , economics , cognitive psychology , macroeconomics
Treatment in an intensive care unit can be stressful and may leave patients with persisting psychological symptoms that impair quality of life. This postal questionnaire study of patients who had previously been treated in a general adult intensive care unit showed that 38 (47%) of 80 patients who returned fully completed questionnaires reported clinically significant anxiety and depression as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Thirty (38%) reported significant symptoms of post‐traumatic stress disorder, of whom 12 (15%) reached levels consistent with a diagnosis of full post‐traumatic stress disorder as measured by the Trauma Symptom Checklist 33 and the Impact of Events Scale. We describe a new measure of psychological distress specifically related to the experience of intensive care management, the Experience after Treatment in Intensive Care 7 Item Scale, and compare it to the other scales. The Experience after Treatment in Intensive Care 7 Item Scale shows that at least a proportion of the post‐traumatic stress reported was directly attributable to the experience of treatment in the intensive care unit.