Objective: Describe the capacity for coping and adaptation among patients released from intensive care units in the city of Cartagena (Colombia). Method: A descriptive study of 171 patients who were released from intensive care units in the second half of 2009. Callista Roy’s coping and adaptation measurement scale was used. Measures of the central tendency and coefficient of variation were employed to assess the factors that gauge coping strategies and resources for adaptation. Results: 50.3% of the participants were women and 49.7% were men. The capacity to cope and adapt was in 63.2% of the patients studied, while 19.9% showed medium or average capacity, and 1.2% reported low capacity. By factors, the warning process scored highest, with 46.2% of the patients being quite capable in terms of their coping strategies. As for systematic processing, 45.0% showed extremely good capacity with respect to the resources used to adapt. Conclusion: The patients in question displayed an active coping style with cognitive and behavioral strategies centered on the problem and with the situation being perceived as controllable. The Roy model allows nurses to identify adequate or ineffective strategies in patients and to orient care accordingly.