Grant: Project Grant

In Canada, the high (38-41%) unplanned hospital readmission rate in the year following intensive care unit (ICU) points to insufficient care of these vulnerable patients. Most individuals treated in an ICU will survive yet, up to half of these survivors suffer new or worsening physical, cognitive and psychiatric complications, termed post-intensive care syndrome. Family often become informal caregivers, but also suffer physical and mental health impairment, as well as loss of employment, financial difficulties and low quality of life. These complex, long-term complications often go unrecognized or untreated in the community, and result in survivor dependence on acute care services. While person-centred care entails addressing what matters most to survivors and families, there is limited understanding of what this even is, or how this influences health services use, eventually culminating in hospital readmission. The aim of this research is to describe the relationship between ICU survivors, their family caregivers and the healthcare system from the perspective of the survivor-family dyad, what matters to this dyad, and how this relationship influences unplanned hospital readmission. We will interview survivors, family caregivers and health care providers to develop an explanatory model, which will be extended and refined through focus groups across the Province of British Columbia. Study findings will inform the development of health services specific to ICU survivors.