ICU Issues & Answers: 
Patient and Family Support Brochures

Do you sometimes feel at a loss for words when family members ask, why does my loved one look that way? Do you notice family members often focus all their energy on the loved one in critical care and not on themselves? Do you sometimes encounter difficulty and frustration explaining critical care concepts to patients and their families?

Having a loved one in the ICU can be stressful time for anyone. The SCCM Patient and Family Support Committee has developed ten adult and three pediatric brochures to help healthcare practitioners explain in easy and understandable terms the complexities of critical care. French and Spanish translations of selected brochures are also available.

A limited amount of material may be reproduced from ICU Issues & Answers brochures only with permission from the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Changing or removing the ICU Issues & Answers logo or the SCCM logo from printed or purchased brochures, or adding your institution logo to printed or purchased brochures, is prohibited.

Printing multiple copies of one or all brochures from this website to give to patients and families is also prohibited, but an individual patient or family may print copies of one or all brochures on their own time, as long as the copies are for their personal use only. You may order brochures for your ICU waiting room by contacting SCCM Customer Service at (847) 827-6888 or visiting SCCM's online store.

To request permission to reproduce part of the text or an image from a brochure, please contact SCCM Editorial Assistant Amanda Cozza at acozza@sccm.org, with the following information:

• The text or image you would like to reproduced
• How the text or image will be reproduced

Amanda will contact you about your request and, within a week, notify you of whether the request has been approved.

Adult

• Evaluating ICU Care in Your Community addresses six topics related to quality of care at your ICU for you to discuss with ICU team members.
• Common Problems of Critical Illness addresses conditions which may bring a loved one into the ICU or that a loved one may develop while in the unit.
• What Are My Choices Regarding Life Support? deals with the decisions patients and families face regarding specific forms of life support.
• Participating in Care: What Questions Should I Ask? guides family members on how to interact most effectively with ICU team members.
• Taking Care of Yourself While a Loved One is in the ICU stresses the importance of self-care while supporting a loved one in the ICU.
• Why Do ICU Patients Look and Act That Way? provides an illustrated guide to equipment and procedures that will affect the loved one's appearance in the ICU.
• Helpful Hospital Safety Tips lists ways you can work with your healthcare team to make your journey fast, easy, and above all, safe.
• Making Decisions About ICU Care will assist family and ICU team members in sharing the decision-making process in order to provide the best care for your loved one.
• What Should I Expect After Leaving the ICU provides information for you and your loved ones on what to expect following discharge from the ICU.
• Chronic Critical Illness in Adults Requiring Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation helps to explain such topics as amnesia, smoking, eating/nutrition, stress/relaxation, depression, exercise and others.

Pediatric

• Palliative Care for Children addresses how palliative care can improve your child’s quality of life and reduce your child’s suffering.
• When Your Child is Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit is every family's guide to understanding what is happening to their child in the pediatric ICU.
• Making Decisions When Your Child is Very Sick is a guide to help family and friends understand what difficult decisions need to be made when a child is in the ICU.

Additionally, SCCM offers the brochure Sepsis: What You Should Know. This brochure answers questions families of patients may have regarding what sepsis is and how it is treated in the ICU.

French Translations

• Troubles fréquemment associés aux maladies graves (Common Problems of Critical Illness)
• Maintien des fonctions vitales: quels sont mes choix? (What Are My Choices Regarding Life Support?)
• Participer aux soins: quelles questions poser? (Participating in Care: What Questions Should I Ask?)
• Prendre soin de soi-même lorsqu’un proche est aux soins intensifs (Taking Care of Yourself While a Loved One is in the ICU)
• Comment expliquer le comportement et l’apparence des patients aux soins intensifs? (Why Do ICU Patients Look and Act That Way?)
• Conseils pratiques de sécurité en milieu hospitalier (Helpful Hospital Safety Tips)
• Sepsis: que devez-vous savoir? (Sepsis: What You Should Know)

Spanish Translations

• Problemas frecuentes de la enfermedad crítica (Common Problems of Critical Illness)
• ¿Cuáles son mis opciones con respecto al soporte vital? (What Are My Choices Regarding Life Support?)
• Participando en el cuidado: ¿Qué preguntas debo hacer? (Participating in Care: What Questions Should I Ask?)
• Cuidando de usted mientras su ser querido está en la UCI (Taking Care of Yourself While a Loved One is in the ICU)
• ¿Por qué los pacientes en la UCI se ven así y actúan de esa manera? (Why Do ICU Patients Look and Act That Way?)
• Recomendaciones de seguridad hospitalaria importantes (Helpful Hospital Safety Tips)
• Cuando su niño es hospitalizado en la unidad de cuidado intensivo (When Your Child is Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit)
• Tomando decisions cuando su niño se encuentra muy enfermo (Making Decisions When Your Child is Very Sick)
• Sepsis: lo que usted debe saber (Sepsis: What You Should Know)