Post-ICU clinics may reduce burnout, study says

A preliminary study found post-intensive care units may reduce burnout for the ICU care team. The qualitative study was based on interviews with 29 post-ICU nurses and other health care professionals at 15 sites in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. The authors found the care team’s ability to develop empathetic relationships with former ICU patients and family members in a way not possible in the ICU setting reduced their burnout. The care team also benefited from seeing and hearing about their patients’ successes. Post-ICU clinics, defined as follow-up outpatient clinics for ICU survivors, are relatively rare and are located mainly in large metropolitan areas and at academic medical centers, but increasingly are used to treat former ICU patients who had COVID-19. (Medscape article, 2/13/23)