Rehabilitation and critical illness

Patients who survive critical illness experience reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL), impaired physical and cognitive functioning as well as psychological morbidity. These changes may be inter-connected and in part may relate to the loss of physical function at the time of critical illness. Rehabilitation of critically ill patients has largely focused on the post-acute and home phases of recovery. However, recent data show that it is safe, feasible and beneficial to engage critically ill patients in rehabilitation activities early on in their illness. Future research should focus on confirming these findings in a wider patient population and on the key role of knowledge translation in implementing these findings.