What should happen during your critical care stay

Information for the public

Following a critical illness, some people will have a rapid recovery. For others, recovery may be longer and they will need more structured support. Sometimes this is obvious early on, but occasionally this only becomes apparent later. Your healthcare team will perform regular health checks (called assessments) to check your progress.

While you are in critical care, you should have a health check (called a short clinical assessment) to identify:

any physical or psychological problems
the likelihood of any problems developing in the future, and
your current rehabilitation needs.

If the health check shows that you could benefit from more structured support, you should have a more detailed health check (called a comprehensive clinical assessment) to identify your rehabilitation needs. Your healthcare team should talk to you about your rehabilitation goals and they should involve your family and/or carer if you are unconscious or unable to give formal consent.

If you need more structured support, your rehabilitation should start while you are in critical care. You should be offered a structured rehabilitation programme that is tailored to your needs and has regular reviews to check your progress. The rehabilitation programme should include:

measures to prevent avoidable physical and psychological problems (for example, preventing stiffness in muscles and joints and minimising pain and discomfort)
a review of your previous and current medicines, and
measures to improve or maintain the levels of nutrients in your body. NICE has produced information for the public about nutrition support in adults. See www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/CG32

The details of your rehabilitation programme and reviews should be recorded in your clinical records.

Information and support

You, your family and/or carer should be given information on the following more than once during your critical care stay.

Your critical illness, tests, investigations or operations, and the treatment you received. In some hospitals this may include a diary of your stay in critical care offered to you later on in your recovery; this may include photographs.
The equipment used while you were in critical care.
Possible short-term and/or long-term physical or psychological problems which may need rehabilitation.
Contact details of the key people looking after you.