Health related quality of life in Critically ill Patients A study of health related quality of life in critically ill patients admitted on the Intensive Care
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Health related quality of life (HRQOL) is a relevant outcome measure for patients admitted to the \nintensive care unit (ICU). Long term outcome for physical and psychological factors, functional \nstatus and social interactions are becoming more and more important both for doctors and nurses \nas well as for patients and their relatives (1;2). Therefore doctors and nurses want to know what a \n“reasonable” quality of life means to their patients. The main reason for HRQOL research \ndescribed in this thesis is the lack of knowledge about the outcome of HRQOL in critically ill \npatients admitted to an ICU. Especially, the time course of changes in HRQOL following discharge \nfrom the ICU and during a general ward stay has not been studied. In HRQOL studies in general \nas well ass in critically ill patients, there is a lack of a clear framework for defining and describing \nHRQOL. One of the difficulties in HRQOL research is defining what one means by health related \nquality of life: there is no universally accepted definition. QOL, health status, functional status, and \nHRQOL are often used interchangeable in the literature (3). Yet each of these terms may reflect \ndifferent aspects of an individual’s well-being (4). This also may lead to different measurement \napproaches which may lead to different results. Quality of life is described as a “unique personal \nperception” (5), influenced by social, psychological, cultural, familial, relational and individual \nfactors. The World Health Organization defines “health” as not only the absence of infirmity and \ndisease but also as a state of physical, mental and social well-being (6). Accordingly, an \nassessment of health related quality of life should reflect the patients’ physiological and \npsychological status, social functioning and perception of health. The quality of life applied to \nhealth, or HRQOL, takes into account not all dimensions o
Author: José G.M. Hofhuis
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2134465012