Psychiatric symptoms post intensive care unit admission

Abstract

A 53-year-old woman was admitted to a tertiary intensive care unit (ICU) with acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to severe community-acquired pneumonia that necessitated maximum supportive care with venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Her medical history included bipolar disorder on quetiapine and sertraline, as well as a previous ICU admission, approximately 2 years prior, for non-cirrhotic hyperammonaemic encephalopathy that was complicated by prolonged post discharge anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder-like symptoms, consistent with post-intensive-care syndrome. Here, we present a case, and explore the outcomes for a patient who had two separate admissions with life-threatening illnesses, but had distinct differences in the psychological outcomes following each illness.

Keywords: adult intensive care; psychiatry (drugs and medicines).