TY - JOUR T1 - Survivors of critical illness: victims of our success? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 714 LP - 715 DO - 10.3399/bjgp11X612945 VL - 61 IS - 593 AU - Michael McGovern AU - Christine McGovern AU - Robert Parker Y1 - 2011/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/61/593/714.abstract N2 - ‘For many patients the recovery after critical illness is relatively straightforward and it is important not to lose sight of this. What is clear is that tens of thousands of patients leave critical care to go home each year, and it is likely that poor-quality recovery represents a substantial problem. Given the individual impact on patients and ripple effects on families and society in general, poor-quality rehabilitation and impaired recovery from severe illness should be regarded as a major public health issue.’1From its origins in Copenhagen during the poliomyelitis epidemic of 1952, the critical care unit has grown into a facility central to modern hospital medicine. Changes in medical practice and public expectation are placing increasing demands on critical care services. The Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre recorded 96 810 admissions from April 2009 to March 2010 to 188 critical care units in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, of whom 83.1% were discharged alive from critical care and 74.8% from hospital.2Most patients admitted to critical care stay short periods of time and make complete and uncomplicated recoveries. However, follow-up of critical care survivors and caregivers has consistently shown that many report physical and psychological problems affecting quality-of-life, sometimes years after the admitting insult.3These long-term effects were often overlooked by all but a few enthusiastic researchers.4 In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Clinical … ER -