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The stress of staying in an intensive care unit (ICU) increases risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after discharge; in preliminary studies, psychological interventions seem to have decreased this risk. Researchers randomized 24 ICUs to usual care or to an intervention in which nurses improved the overall ICU environment and delivered three stress-support sessions based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in the ICU, along with materials to enhance coping, to patients with high stress scores.
A total of 1453 patients participated, which started with a 5-month baseline period. Nurses were trained to deliver CBT by expert psychologists. Over half of ICU staff completed environment-supportive training by the month before the interv…