Feasibility of Telephone Follow-Up after Critical Care Discharge

Post-intensive care syndrome follow-up system after hospital discharge: a narrative review

BACKGROUND

Post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) is the long-lasting impairment of physical functions, cognitive functions, and mental health after intensive care. Although a long-term follow-up is essential for the successful management of PICS, few reviews have summarized evidence for the efficacy and management of the PICS follow-up system.

MAIN TEXT

The PICS follow-up system includes a PICS follow-up clinic, home visitations, telephone or mail follow-ups, and telemedicine. The first PICS follow-up clinic was established in the U.K. in 1993 and its use spread thereafter. There are currently no consistent findings on the efficacy of PICS follow-up clinics. Under recent evidence and recommendations, attendance at a PICS follow-up clinic needs to start within three months after hospital discharge. A multidisciplinary team approach is important for the treatment of PICS from various aspects of impairments, including the nutritional status. We classified face-to-face and telephone-based assessments for a PICS follow-up from recent recommendations. Recent findings on medications, rehabilitation, and nutrition for the treatment of PICS were summarized.

CONCLUSIONS

This narrative review aimed to summarize the PICS follow-up system after hospital discharge and provide a comprehensive approach for the prevention and treatment of PICS.

Loss to follow-up associated factors in patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and its impact on the disease prognosis

Objective

Pulmonary aspergillosis is a rare but challenging pulmonary disease. The conditions of patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) can be even more complicated. The mortality rate of CPA remains high, and the prognostic factors are not well established due to a high proportion of loss to follow-up. In this study, we aim to explore factors associated with loss to follow-up in CPA patients and their impact on the disease prognosis after withdrawing anti-fungal treatments.

Methods

Patients with confirmed CPA, who were admitted to the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from March 2017 to November 2019, were enrolled in this prospective study. The enrolled patients were followed up for 6 months after discharge. For loss to follow-up patients, the reasons for loss to follow-up and their prognosis after withdrawing anti-fungal treatments during loss to follow-up were recorded by telephone communication. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with loss to follow-up.

Results

The 199 out of 298 screened patients were included in the study. Except for 67 cases with regular follow-up, the rest 132 cases were lost to follow-up. Factors, including age > 60 years (OR = 2.036, P = 0.03), monthly income ≤ $583 (OR = 5.568, P = 0.0001), education ≤ 6 years (OR = 7.474, P = 0.0001), and non-local residence (OR = 5.893, P = 0.0001) were associated with the loss to follow-up according to multivariate logistic regression analysis. The most common reasons for loss to follow-up were economic factors and clinic visit distance. The overall case fatality rate (CFR) within 180 days in patients with regular follow-up and patients who stopped anti-fungal treatment during the loss to follow-up was 0% and 19.65%, respectively.

Conclusion

The proportion of loss to follow-up in CPA patients remained high. Age (>60 years), poor financial status, low education, and non-local residence were the key factors associated with the loss to follow-up in this study. Our study reveals the need to optimize the follow-up procedures and improve the patients understanding about the benefits and limitations of follow-up to reduce the CFR.

Transitions from short to long-term outcomes in pediatric critical care: considerations for clinical practice

Most children are surviving critical illness in highly resourced pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). However, in research studies, many of these children survive with multi-domain health sequelae that has the potential to affect development over many years, termed post-intensive care syndrome-pediatrics (PICS-p). Clinically, there are no recommendations for the assessment and follow-up of children with critical illness as exists for the premature neonatal and congenital heart disease populations. In research studies, primary and secondary outcomes are largely assessed at or prior to hospital discharge, disregarding post-hospital outcomes important to PICU stakeholders. Incorporating longer term outcomes into clinical and research programs, however, can no longer be overlooked. Barriers to outcomes assessments are varied and generalized vs. individualized, but some PICU centers are discovering how to overcome them and are providing this service to families-sometimes specific populations-in need. Research programs and funders are increasingly recognizing the value and need to assess long-term outcomes post-PICU. Finally, we should seek the strong backing of the PICU community and families to insist that long-term outcomes become our new clinical standard of care. PICUs should consider development of a multicenter, multinational collaborative to assess clinical outcomes and optimize care delivery and patient and family outcomes. The aim of this review is to present the potential considerations of implementing long-term clinical follow-up following pediatric critical illness.