Andrews on Advisory Board of Hospital Project

Artist Nancy Andrews has been appointed to the advisory board of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s project “After The ICU: A Collaborative to Improve Critical Illness Survivorship,” which is directly related to one of her Artists’ Prospectus for the Nation projects, Delirious.

Funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, “After The ICU” “addresses one of the pressing issues of ICU medicine—the post-ICU patient. An increasing body of research has documented the deficits faced by survivors of intensive care, specifically neuro-cognitive dysfunction, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, ICU-acquired muscle weakness, and chronic pain. These long-lasting disabilities present an important and prevalent public health concern. Although clinicians are increasingly aware of the challenges that face ICU survivors, they do not frequently discuss this with patients or their families. As a result, patients often face a bewildering number of care transitions—from hospitals to long-term care to nursing facilities—after critical illness, without a roadmap or community. Furthermore, there is little research that specifically investigates what outcomes are important to ICU survivors and their families, or how best to communicate these outcomes to improve decision making.”

During Tier I of the project, the hospital is developing a local advisory board of ICU survivors (including Nancy); family members; and clinicians “who will work together to create a comprehensive online resource for ICU survivors and their families. In addition to a layperson-friendly look at what to expect after the ICU, the website will include a moderated conversation board, a repository of survivor stories, and an online space for survivors and caregivers to detail what research questions and outcomes they consider important.

“Moving forward, [the hospital] will work with this community to prioritize research questions while developing an infrastructure for research in Tier II. Ultimately, in Tier III [the hospital] will develop a rigorous scientific proposal with strong patient engagement.”