Patients' Priorities and Goals of Care During Intensive Care Unit Recovery: A Multicenter Cohort Study

Patients can experience physical, emotional, social, and cognitive challenges following discharge from critical care. Data regarding goals of care for intensive care unit recovery from a patient's perspective are limited.

To use data from a multicenter intensive care unit recovery program to explore patients' goals during recovery from critical illness and to understand optimal models of care for future research design and care delivery.

This multicenter, descriptive cohort study recruited patients who attended critical care recovery services after hospital discharge. During attendance, patients set goals of care with health care professionals. These goals of care were evaluated with framework analysis.

One hundred fifty-one patients were recruited from 3 hospital sites in Scotland. Of these patients, 134 (88.7%) set a total of 314 personal goals. Analysis of the goals revealed 5 categories: physical; health management; emotional and psychosocial; education, employment, and purpose; and social and interpersonal goals. Goals were related to both chronic disease management and acute recovery following critical illness.

Survivors of critical illness have various goals of care for recovery that span physical, social, and emotional needs. Clinicians and researchers should consider these goals of care when planning interventional research in this area to ensure that it meets patients' need and expectations.