Critical Care

official impact factor 4.60

Commentary

Understanding the lingering consequences of what we treat and what we do

Derek C Angus

Author Affiliations

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Director, The CRISMA Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Critical Care 2004, 8:103-104 doi:10.1186/cc2838


See related Commentary: http://ccforum.com/content/8/2/103

Published: 3 March 2004

Abstract

Granja and colleagues have helped us by showing that long-term follow-up is feasible and by trying to tease out whether select intensive care unit patient populations are at particular risk of adverse outcomes. This work gives us clues for future investigations which will hopefully interrogate further the potential mechanisms of action that underlie poor long-term outcomes. In the meantime, we can hope that this quality of follow-up will move from the research arena to become a part of routine clinical care.

Keywords:
critical illness; intensive care unit; quality of life; sepsis