Intensive and Critical Care Nursing (2014) 30, 145—151 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect jo ur nal homepage: www.elsevier.com/iccn ORIGINAL ARTICLE Psychological wellbeing, health related quality of life and memories of intensive care and a specialised weaning centre reported by survivors of prolonged mechanical ventilation Louise Rose a,b,c,* , Mika Nonoyama a , Shaghayegh Rezaie b , Ian Fraser b,d a Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Room 276, Toronto, ON, Canada M5T IP8 b Provincial Centre of Weaning Excellence/Prolonged Ventilation Weaning Centre, Toronto East General Hospital, 825 Coxwell Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada M4C 3E7 c Mt Sinai Hospital and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael’s Hospital, Canada d Division of Respirology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada Accepted 6 November 2013 KEYWORDS Memory; Recall; Patient experience; Prolonged mechanical ventilation; Critical care Summary Objective: To compare memories and recall of intensive care unit and specialised weaning centre admission, characterise health-related quality of life and psychological morbidity, and examine the relationship between delusional memories and psychological outcomes. Methods: We recruited participants following hospitalisation that included ICU admission and subsequent weaning in a specialised centre. We administered validated questionnaires to assess memory and recall of both care locations, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress sympto- matology and health-related quality of life. Results: Of 53 eligible patients discharged from the weaning centre over seven years, we recruited 27 participants. Participants had similar numbers of factual and feeling memories but reported more delusional memories for ICU than the weaning centre (1.6 vs. 0.7, P = 0.004). Nine (39%) participants scored ≥11 on the hospital anxiety and depression scale (anxiety) and were more likely to experience delusional memories (P = 0.008). Thirst (70%), no control (70%), noise (65%) were most frequently recalled ICU experiences. Procedures (83%), night awakening (70%), inability to sleep (70%) most frequently recalled from the weaning centre. ∗ Corresponding author at: Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Room 276, Toronto, ON, Canada M5T IP8. Tel.: +1 416 978 3492; fax: +1 416 978 8222. E-mail addresses: louise.rose@utoronto.ca (L. Rose), nonoyama@utoronto.ca (M. Nonoyama), shrez@tegh.on.ca (S. Rezaie), ifras@tegh.on.ca (I. Fraser). 0964-3397/$ — see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2013.11.002