Use of a personal diary written on the ICU during critical illness.

Objective: To explore the use of a diary as an aid in debriefing patients and relatives following critical illness.

Design: Observation study.

Setting: Intensive care unit of a 500-bed hospital.

Patients And Participants: Fifty-one critically ill patients and their relatives.

Method: A daily account of the patient's progress was written in everyday language by nursing staff, photographs were added as necessary. The booklet was given to the patient or a relative at a follow-up appointment 2 weeks after discharge from the unit. A standard questionnaire was mailed 6 months later, responses were analyzed by an independent observer.

Measurements And Results: All diaries had been read by survivors (n = 41) or relatives (n = 10), 51% of the diaries had been read more than 10 times. Comments in the questionnaires were graded as very positive (39%), positive (28%) and neutral (33%).

Conclusions: A detailed narrative of the patient's stay is a useful tool in the debriefing process following intensive care.