Follow-Up of Cardiac Arrest Survivors: Why, How, and When? A Practical Approach

Cardiac arrest (CA) survivors may experience cognitive, physical, or emotional problems that can affect their return to everyday activities and quality of life. To improve long-term outcomes, interventions after hospital discharge may be needed. A follow-up plan to identify CA survivors with increased risk of residual cognitive, physical, or emotional problems is important to target interventions and support. Current recommendations suggest that follow-up should include screening of potential problems, sharing information, and relevant referrals when needed. The complexity of the follow-up of CA survivors is due to the fact that several pathways of care may be offered, focusing either on the cardiovascular disease, the postintensive care syndrome, or CA-related brain injury. There is a potential to improve recovery through a more collaborative and holistic approach to follow-up. The aim of this review is to give examples of why follow-up after CA should be provided, but also how and when follow-up could be performed.