2024 Funded Micro Grant

Write It Down, Let It Go: Improving the ICU Patient and Family Experience by Introducing a Patient Journal 

Stephanie Gray, Heather Cullen, Samantha Young, Kellie Brashears, Christopher Eney, Valeriia Tokarenko, Kerbee Stokes, Julie King, Rachel Slusher, Stephanie Seto,  

Weinberg Intensive Care Unit 

Following an ICU stay, patients may experience anxiety, depression and emotional stress as they try to make sense of the time they lost in the ICU. This is partly due to a patchy or absent memory of their stay, resulting in post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). Additionally, family members may feel helpless and experience stress during and after their loved one’s ICU stay. 

To combat PICS, unit leadership along with the Clinical Customer Service Coordinator (CCSC) are working to design a keepsake ICU journal for patients, family and staff to write down events in the hospital, happenings at home, emotions, medical milestones, and observations that occur during the ICU stay. The CCSC will introduce the journal to the patient and family during daily patient experience rounds once a patient has been in the ICU for more than 72 hours. 

The ICU journal design is supported by similar projects in other ICUs and will contain instructions on how to use the journal, an explanation of the purpose and benefits, examples of journal entries, lined pages for dated entries, a “Get to Know Me” sheet for patients to share interests and likes/dislikes that express their individuality along with a list of available resources.