A Reflection on Current Definitions of Critical Care and Critical Illness-A Narrative Review of the Literature.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Critical care and critical illness are key concepts that have been defined in various publications. A common understanding of the concepts is of great importance, but an up-to-date overview and discussion are lacking in the literature.

Aim

The aim of this study was to identify and discuss current definitions of critical care, critical illness and chronic critical illness.

Study design

We conducted a narrative review and performed literature searches in Medline, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Embase, LIVIVO, Google Scholar, OpenGrey, Epistemonikos and Science Open as well as citation searching from July 2024 to September 2025. Reports on definitions were included if they dealt thematically with critical care, critical illness or chronic critical illness, were pub

SUBMITTER: Sterr F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12781964 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature