Critical Care Follow-up Clinics: A Scoping Review of Interventions and Outcomes

The purpose of this scoping review is to identify evidence describing benefits of interventions provided in intensive care unit (ICU) survivor follow-up clinics.

Advances in ICU treatments have increased the number of survivors who require specialized care for ICU-related sequelae. Intensive care unit survivor follow-up clinics exist, yet little is known about the nature and impact of interventions provided in such clinics. A scoping review of publications about in-person post-ICU follow-up care was undertaken.

Ten databases were searched yielding 111 relevant unique publication titles and abstracts. Sample heterogeneity supported using a scoping review method. After excluding nonrelated publications, 33 reports were fully reviewed. Twenty international publications were included that described ICU follow-up clinic interventions and/or outcomes.

Authors discussed very diverse interventions in 15 publications, and 9 reported some level of intervention effectiveness. Evidence was strongest that supported the use of prospective diaries as an intervention to prevent or improve psychological symptoms, whereas evidence to support implementation of other interventions was weak.

Although ICU follow-up clinics exist, evidence for interventions and effectiveness of treatments in these clinics remains underexplored.

Intensive care unit survivor follow-up clinics provide a venue for further interdisciplinary intervention research that could lead to better health outcomes for ICU survivors.