Surviving critical illness is not always the happy ending we imagine for patients. Many ICU survivors suffer from a range of long-lasting physical and psychological issues such end stage renal disease, congestive heart failure, cognitive impairment, neuromuscular weakness, and depression or anxiety, which affect their overall quality of life and ability to lead productive lives. This lingering burden or 'legacy' of critical illness is now recognized as a major public health issue, with major efforts underway to understand how it can be prevented, mitigated, or treated. The Textbook of Post-ICU Medicine: The Legacy of Critical Care discusses the science of the recovery process and the innovative treatment regimens which are helping ICU survivors regain function as they heal following trauma or disease. Describing the major clinical syndromes affecting ICU survivors, the book delineates established or postulated biological mechanisms of the post-acute recovery process, and discusses strategies for treatment and rehabilitation to promote recovery in the ICU and in the long term. The chapters are written by an interdisciplinary panel of leading clinicians and researchers working in the field. The book serves as a unique reference for general practitioners, internists and nurses caring for long term ICU survivors as well as specialists in intensive care medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and rehabilitation medicine.

Intensive care unit (ICU) teams have traditionally focused on short term goals, however, recent research demonstrates that many ICU survivors can suffer from ill health and mental health issues for months or years to follow. The book identifies the long term outcomes of ICU and the steps that can be taken to improve patients' health and wellbeing.

Some of the most well known authors within critical care have contributed, giving an international appeal....The net result is a book that is very accessible, and more importantly feels relevant to clinical practice.... there can be no better guide than this book.