It can be hard to remember and understand what’s happening while you’re in the ICU. You may be confused about why you are there. You’ve likely been asleep, sedated, or unconscious, especially when you were critically ill.
Talk to a loved one you trust about how you are feeling. If you have any questions, an ICU staff member can help you.
Learn more about what you can expect in the ICU.
Waking up in the ICU
Your illness, treatments, or medicines you received in the ICU can cause you to have vivid dreams, nightmares, or hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t really there), which can upset you.
Some people think that the ICU staff were trying to hurt them. A condition called ICU delirium can also affect how you are feeling.
Watch the video below to hear one person’s experience of waking up in the ICU.
Experience With Long-term Impact of ICU Delirium – Nadine Foster
ICU equipment
When you wake up in the ICU, there may be different types of equipment or machines attached to your body. This can be scary, but each piece of equipment is part of your support and treatment. Ask the ICU staff if you have any questions about what the equipment does and why you need it.
Learn more about ICU equipment.
Your healthcare team
Your ICU healthcare team will visit you every day. They’ll talk to you and your loved one (family or friends who support you in ICU) about how things are going. They also make decisions about treatment and plan care for the day. This is called patient care rounds.
You and your loved ones are key members of your healthcare team. Whenever possible, you’ll be included in the care and treatment decisions. Put any questions or concerns you may have on your room’s whiteboard (or ask a loved one to do it for you). Your healthcare team will discuss the questions at patient-care rounds. If there isn’t time to answer all your questions during rounds, ask your nurse to have a family conference with your doctor or nurse practitioner.
Your healthcare team includes many members:
Doctor and nurse practitioner
In the ICU you’ll have a doctor who is a specialist in intensive care (called an intensivist). This intensivist leads your healthcare team while you are critically ill. You may also have a nurse practitioner who helps the intensivist lead the healthcare team.
Other doctors such as residents, staff, and students, will also help take care of you in the ICU. Other specialists—including surgeons, cardiologists, and others—may also come to see.
Nurse
In the ICU, nurses assess, monitor, adjust treatments, and report your condition to the rest of the healthcare team. They provide personal care and more complex care and treatments such as:
- changing dressings and wound care
- monitoring your vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, and oxygen levels)
- checking your lab test results
- managing your pain
Nurses work with your healthcare team so you get the correct treatment and care when you need it. They also provide support and reassurance to you and your family.
The charge nurse and unit manager help manage the ICU. Talk to them if you have any questions.
Physiotherapist
A physiotherapist may come to work with you in the ICU. Getting you moving as early as possible helps you recover more quickly and lowers the risks of side effects from your critical illness.
If you’re on a breathing machine (ventilator) or can’t get up because of your condition, the physiotherapist will help with exercises for your lungs, breathing muscles, arms, and legs. These exercises will help you breathe without a machine and move on your own when you are strong enough.
Respiratory therapist
A respiratory therapist will come see you in the ICU if you have trouble breathing, need oxygen, or are having a problem with your lungs. They may also put an arterial line into an artery in your wrist to help monitor your blood pressure with blood samples and to do other blood tests.
If you need to go home with any respiratory equipment, the RT will teach you what you’ll need to do at home.
Pharmacist
Many ICUs have a pharmacist. The pharmacist recommends medicines and researches specific drug information questions to help with your care.
The pharmacist looks at all the medicines you normally take, including prescription, over-the-counter, and herbal medicines. They check to make sure these medicines work together safely and help decide what medicine you should take in the ICU and what medicine you need to take when you go home.
Registered dietitian
A registered dietitian may visit you if you can’t eat like usual. They’ll help decide what nutrition you need and how you’ll be fed. Sometimes it’s through a feeding tube, which is a tube that goes into the nose or mouth and down into the stomach. If you can’t have food in your stomach, you may be fed through a drip straight into a vein. You will be allowed to eat normally as soon as it is safe to do so.
Occupational therapist
An occupational therapist may come see you to about how well you can do your activities of daily living. These include bathing, dressing, eating, and getting to the bathroom. They can help you become more independent and help you do these task safely.
They may help to prevent pressure sores by suggesting a special type of bed or chair cushion. Or they may help with things like splints to keep fingers form curling up if you can’t move, or a neck collar if you need neck support.
Speech-language pathologist
You may see a speech-language pathologist If you’ve had a stroke, are having any trouble swallowing, or have a tracheostomy. They’ll check your speaking and swallowing and make suggestions about if it’s safe for you to eat or drink.
Others
Most Alberta ICUs have many other healthcare team members:
- Social workers can help you access financial help.
- Indigenous coordinators help Indigenous patients and families with any cultural needs.
- Diagnostic imaging technicians do imaging tests. such as x-rays.
- Transition coordinators can help you plan for your care once you leave the ICU.
- Chaplains or spiritual care help with your spiritual health and well-being, and you don’t need to belong to a religion to get their support.
