Episodes of (Dis)Connected Consciousness in ICU Survivors

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF LIEGE · Jun 24, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This study is looking at patients who have spent at least a week in the intensive care unit (ICU) and experienced a period where they were unconscious, either because of medicine or other reasons. Researchers want to learn more about episodes where patients felt connected or disconnected from their surroundings during this time. This includes experiences like near-death experiences or feeling like they were outside their own body. The study also aims to find out what might increase the chances of having these experiences and how they affect patients’ mental health up to six months later.

If you are an adult who stayed in the ICU for seven days or more and went through a period of unconsciousness, you might be eligible to join, as long as you speak French and don’t have certain conditions like ongoing confusion, deafness, blindness, or difficulty speaking. Participants will be asked about their experiences during and after their ICU stay, and they will have a follow-up six months later to discuss how these experiences may have affected their wellbeing. This research is important because it helps doctors understand the mental and emotional effects of critical illness and recovery.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Adult patients who survived a ≥7 days stay in the intensive care unit
• • Experienced a pharmacological or non-pharmacological episode of loss of consciousness
• • French speaking
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Refusal
• • Chronic disorder of consciousness
• • Confusion or delirium
• • Deafness
• • Blindness
• • Aphasia