Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
Published on: September 6, 2024
Psychology consultation patterns in a medical intensive care unit: A brief report
Megan M Hosey1, Mana K Ali2, Earl C Mantheiy3
1Division of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Outcomes After Critical Illness and Surgery (OACIS) Group, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Purpose/Objective:
Intensive care unit (ICU) survivors frequently experience long-lasting mental health, cognitive, and physiologic challenges. Psychologists have a role in providing interventions to reduce patient distress during critical illness and improve outcomes. There is limited data regarding psychology consultations in the ICU. This brief report characterizes psychology consultations in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) in an academic medical center.
Method:
Psychology consultations were prospectively tracked, with patient-related data retrospectively collected and analyzed.
Results:
A total of 79 consecutive psychology consultations occurred at mean of 8 ± 6 days after MICU admission. Reasons for consultation were patient emotional distress (56%), rehabilitation therapy engagement (24%), family engagement (13%), cognitive disturbance (4%), and pain (4%). Patient characteristics were: mean age 56 ± 15 years, 54% women, 53% White, and 34% with psychiatric comorbidity at MICU admission. Patients referred for consultation had a longer MICU length of stay than the total MICU population (12 ± 9 days vs. 4 ± 6 days, p < .01). For consultations for emotional distress compared with limited rehabilitation therapy engagement, patient demographic characteristics were similar, with the exception of women (vs. men) being more commonly consulted for emotional distress (64 vs. 26%, p = .01).
Conclusions:
Patients with a longer MICU stay more commonly had a rehabilitation psychology consultation request, typically to provide support for emotional distress or engagement in rehabilitation therapy. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of psychology interventions in the ICU. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
More Related Videos
09:57A Protocol to Set Up Needle-Free Connector with Positive Displacement on Central Venous Catheter in Intensive Care Unit
Published on: July 13, 2019
11:50Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Measurement: Standard Units
Measurement: Derived Units
Defining Psychology
Psychology as a Science
The scientific method in psychology involves six critical steps: making observations, formulating hypotheses, conducting tests, analyzing...
Freudian Psychology
Gestalt Psychology