Surviving the ICU: How Can Communication Reduce PICS?

Presented by Sarah Baar and Vanessa Abraham

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Speech Scope: Surviving the ICU: How Can Communication Reduce PICS? (Episode 24)

Audio Runtime: 47 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 21 Minutes

Vanessa Abraham, MS, CCC-SLP, author and ICU survivor, joins host Sarah Baar for a powerful conversation that bridges clinical practice with lived experience. Together, they explore how communication access in the ICU can shape recovery and why trauma-informed care is essential across all rehab disciplines. Vanessa shares her personal journey with Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS), offering practical strategies and poignant insights for clinicians like you. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how communication can reduce trauma, and why it just might be the most important intervention you provide.

Learning Outcomes

Analyze the evidence around trauma-informed communication practices to reduce the mental and emotional impacts of Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) in critically ill individuals and their families
Apply evidence-based, practical strategies to actionably address communication barriers in individuals in the ICU setting, including the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools to enhance communication access and informed decision-making
Solve patient case scenarios involving individuals at risk for PICS by identifying unmet communication needs, selecting appropriate interventions, and constructing care plans that align with trauma-informed and ethical clinical practice

This is an audio-only course. Additional materials are available for download within the course. To receive continuing education credit, complete the course and the accompanying quiz.

Meet your instructors

Person with shoulder-length hair and hoop earrings stands smiling in a room with a patterned wall, promoting medbridge.

Sarah Baar

Sarah Baar is a speech-language pathologist in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has had the opportunity to work in many settings across the care continuum, including acute care, acute rehab, home and community, and outpatient therapy, and has been involved in various leadership projects. In 2016, she started the Honeycomb Speech…

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Vanessa Abraham

Vanessa Abraham is a Speech-Language Pathologist, author of Speechless, How a Speech Therapist Lost Her Ability to Speak and Her Silent Struggle to Reclaim Her Voice and Life and passionate advocate for ICU survivors and Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS). After being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, Vanessa…

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Chapters & learning objectives

1. Surviving the ICU: How Can Communication Reduce PICS?

Vanessa Abraham shares her powerful story as both a clinician and ICU survivor with host Sarah Baar, revealing how communication access and trauma-informed care can transform outcomes for patients facing Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS).