Recovering after a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a long and difficult process, and for some survivors, healing the body may only be a fraction of the journey.

In recent years, attention has increasingly turned to the cognitive impact post-intensive care syndrome, or PICS, has on ICU patients. In this episode of Critical Matters, Dr. Sergio Zanotti explores how to communicate with patients and families about post-intensive care syndrome.

He is joined by Dr. Carla M. Sevin, an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Dr. Sevin also serves as Director of the Pulmonary Patient Care Center and Director of the ICU Recovery Center.

Previous episodes of Critical Matters related to this topic:

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICAS)

The Forgotten Patient

Additional resources:

Communicating to Patients and Families About Post-Intensive Care Syndrome. CHEST, 2025.

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Awareness and Communication: Surveys of ICU Providers and Patients. CHEST, 2026.

The Heroism of Incremental Care. Atul Gawande. The New Yorker, 2017.

Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction. And Survivorship (CIBS) Center.

CAIRO- Critical and Acute Illness Recovery Organization.

Books mentioned in this episode:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death. By Jean Dominique-Bauby

The Correspondent: A Novel. By Virginia Evans.

The Wall. By Marlen Haushofer

Communicating to Patients and Families about PICS

Critical Matters

Communicating to Patients and Families about PICS