Neurocritical Care and Post ICU Recovery Clinic Provides Pathway to Long-Term Recovery of Neuro ICU Patients

Addressing Post Intensive Care Syndrome Among Survivors of Critical Illness

Hackensack University Medical Center’s Kaitlin Reilly, M.D., director, Division of Neurocritical Care in the Department of Neurology, and assistant professor of neurology & neurosurgery at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, is exploring the barriers to long-term recovery of ICU patients. She has established a new post ICU recovery clinic to address Post Intensive Care Syndrome, a condition in which survivors of critical illness often experience physical, cognitive, or mental health impairments that may persist for months or years after hospital discharge.

“Patients experiencing severe neurological injuries, such as sub arachnoid hemorrhage, moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, seizures, brain infections, and stroke, and also patients with COVID and delirium, often experience long-term effects on brain function, fatigue, cognitive impairment, weakness, nightmares, insomnia and depression” says Dr. Reilly. Post Intensive Care Syndrome can persist for months or even years and impacts patients as well as their family members.

The post ICU recovery clinic at Hackensack University Medical Center employs a team of specialists including neurologists, geriatricians, neuro- and health psychologists, and rehab therapists. The team follows former ICU patients and their families for the first full year of recovery to help improve the patient’s long-term health outcomes.

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