Intensive Care Diaries Reduce New Onset Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Critical Illness: a Randomised, Controlled Trial

Christina Jones, Carl Bäckman, Maurizia Capuzzo, Ingrid Egerod, Hans Flaatten, Cristina Granja, Christian Rylander, Richard D Griffiths, the RACHEL group

Critical Care 2010, 14:R168 

Introduction: patients recovering from critical illness have been shown to be at risk of developing Post Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD). This study was to evaluate whether a prospectively collected diary of a patient’s intensive care unit (ICU) stay when used during convalescence following critical illness will reduce the development of new onset PTSD.

Methods: intensive care patients with an ICU stay of more than 72 hours were recruited to a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of a diary outlining the details of the patients ICU stay on the development of acute PTSD. The intervention patients received their ICU diary at 1 month following critical care discharge and the final assessment of the development of acute PTSD was made at 3 months.

Results: 352 patients were randomised to the study at 1 month. The incidence of new cases of PTSD was reduced in the intervention group compared to the control patients (5% versus 13%, P = 0.02).

Conclusions: the provision of an ICU diary is effective in aiding psychological recovery and reducing the incidence of new PTSD.

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