The following is a summary of “Patient perspectives on stress after ICU and a short primary care based psychological intervention – results from a qualitative sub‑study of the PICTURE trial,” published in the January 2025 issue of Primary Care by Beutel et al.
Around 20–25% of ICU survivors develop post-traumatic stress symptoms, with limited follow-up care available. The PICTURE study explored general practitioners (GPs)-led brief psychological interventions to address this gap.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to capture distressing memories from intensive care units (ICUs) and evaluate a brief psychological intervention based on GPs’ recommendations.
They recruited participants from the PICTURE study’s intervention group using selective sampling. All had experienced an ICU stay with mechanical ventilation and severe organ failure in the past 2 years. Semi-structured, guideline-based telephone interviews were processed and analyzed using Mayring’s qualitative content analysis.
The results showed that, when asked, N=8 patients identified helplessness, pain, fixation, inability to communicate, and sleep disturbances as the most stressful ICU memories. Half reported amnesia regarding their ICU stay, but it was not seen as stressful. All respondents positively evaluated the brief trauma-focused intervention by their GPs.
Investigators found that ICU-related trauma should be minimized, and GP-based interventions helped close the care gap for mild to moderate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Source: bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-024-02698-6
