The events prior to the critical care stay and critical illness
may be significant for the patients in the process of
understanding the experience. This includes, for example,
what the illness has interrupted in the individual’s life and
what this means for their anticipated future (Benner and
Wrubel, 1989). Alternatively it may make no sense since
failure to recall events is common in the critically ill (Stein-
Parbury and McKinley, 2000), or because what is recalled
fails to fit with the individual’s understanding of their treatment
(Benner and Wrubel, 1989). In addition, interviews in
the hours and days following discharge from critical care
were common in this body of literature. This leaves little
time for the meaning of critical illness, as well as the recovery,
to have been reflected on by the individuals who are
often still reeling from their critical illness and ICU care.