Follow-Up of Cardiac Arrest Survivors: Why, How, and When? A Practical Approach.
Cardiac arrest (CA) survivors may experience cognitive, physical, or emotional problems that can affect their return to everyday activities and quality of life. To improve long-term outcomes, interventions after hospital discharge may be needed. A follow-up plan to identify CA survivors with increased risk of residual cognitive, physical, or emotional problems is important to target interventions and support. Current recommendations suggest that follow-up should include screening of potential problems, sharing information, and relevant referrals when needed. The complexity of the follow-up of CA survivors is due to the fact that several pathways of care may be offered, focusing either on the cardiovascular disease, the postintensive care syndrome, or CA-related brain injury. There is a potential to improve recovery through a more collaborative and holistic approach to follow-up. The aim of this review is to give examples ofwhyfollow-up after CA should be provided, but alsohow and whenfollow-up could be performed.
Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, Department of Clinical Sciences, Neurology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Gisela
G
Lilja
D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006323:Heart Arrest; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D017741:Survivors