Time-Sensitive Recovery

The aftermath of acute respiratory failure (ARF) increasingly is recognized as a complex, prolonged, and often fragmented journey. Advances in critical care have led to more patients surviving ICU stays, but survival is not synonymous with recovery. The term post-intensive care syndrome frames the persistent impairments in physical, cognitive, and psychological health experienced by many survivors of critical illness.1 Survivors of ARF are particularly vulnerable to disrupted recovery, with a high burden of frailty, dyspnea, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and functional dependence extending months to years after discharge.