ArticlePilot and feasibility studies2021
Piloting an ICU follow-up clinic to improve health-related quality of life in ICU survivors after a prolonged intensive care stay (PINA): study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.
Article in Pilot and feasibility studies, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04186468 (Piloting an ICU Follow-up Clinic to Improve Health Related Quality of Life After a Prolonged Intensive Care Stay), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Piloting an ICU Follow-up Clinic to Improve Health Related Quality of Life After a Prolonged Intensive Care Stay
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Post-intensive care unit clinics: models and implementation - a systematic review.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Piloting an ICU follow-up clinic to improve health-related quality of life in ICU survivors after a prolonged intensive care stay (PINA): feasibility of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2023Trial
- Piloting an ICU follow-up clinic - qualitative process evaluation alongside a feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Article
- Follow-up needs after paediatric critical care: A survey.Paediatrics & child health · 2025Article
- Barriers and facilitators to optimal sepsis care - a systematized review of healthcare professionals' perspectives.BMC health services research · 2025Review
- Impact of postoperative delirium on long-term neurologic and neuropsychiatric outcome after cardiac surgery or percutaneous valve replacement-a prospective observational study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIntensive care unit (ICU) survivors often suffer from cognitive, physical and mental impairments, known as post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). ICU follow-up clinics may improve aftercare of these patients. There is a lack of evidence whether or which concept of an ICU follow-up clinic is effective. Within the PINA study, a concept for an ICU follow-up clinic was developed and will be tested in a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT), primarily to evaluate the feasibility and additionally the potential efficacy. METHODS/
designDesign: Pilot RCT with intervention and control (usual care) arms plus mixed-methods process evaluation.
participants100 ICU patients (50 per arm) of three ICUs in a university hospital (Regensburg, Germany), ≥ 18 years with an ICU stay of > 5 days, a sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score > 5 during the ICU stay and a life expectancy of more than 6 months.
interventionThe intervention will contain three components: information, consultation and networking. Information will be available in form of an intensive care guide for patients and next of kin at the ICU and phone support during follow-up. For consultation, patients will visit the ICU follow-up clinic at least once during the first 6 months after discharge from ICU. During these visits, patients will be screened for symptoms of PICS and, if required, referred to specialists for further treatment. The networking part (e.g. special referral letter from the ICU follow-up clinic) aims to provide a network of outpatient care providers for former ICU patients. Feasibility Outcomes: Qualitative and quantitative evaluation will be used to explore reasons for non-participation and the intervention´s acceptability to patients and caregivers. Efficacy Outcomes: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) will be assessed as primary outcome by the physical component score (PCS) of the Short-Form 12 Questionnaire (SF-12). Secondary outcomes encompass further patient-reported outcomes. All outcomes are assessed at 6 months after discharge from ICU. DISCUSSION: The PINA study will determine feasibility and potential efficacy of a complex intervention in a pilot RCT to enhance follow-up care of ICU survivors. The pilot study is an important step for further studies in the field of ICU aftercare and especially for the implementation of a pragmatic multi-centre RCT.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov , NCT04186468 . Submitted 2 December 2019.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.