The ICU Diary - A Significant Supplement In the Recovery After Intensive Care: A focus group study
2021 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Objectives: Critical illness and intensive care treatment provide long-term effects on patients and sometimes inhibit psychological recovery. The intensive care unit (ICU) diary has been described as a nursing intervention to help patients during recovery. To optimise the diary as a tool for creating sense of coherence, increased knowledge is needed about how patients experience and use the diary. The aim of this study was to gain an increased understanding of the ICU diary and how it affects patients’ recovery after intensive care.
Methodology/design: The study has a qualitative design and was conducted by focus group interviews, analysed with thematic analysis.Setting: Previously ventilator treated patients at a university hospital in the south of Sweden, with an ICU length of stay ≥ 72 h who had a diary written for them during the ICU stay.
Findings: The ICU diary is a significant supplement to hospital chart and notes taken by family members to fulfil understanding of critical illness. A number of prominent feelings arising from reading the diary such as feelings of guilt, feelings of being cared for and feelings of re-living fear and anxiety. The design and content of the diary are significant if being a tool in patient’s recovery after intensive care.
Conclusion: The ICU diary is a valuable tool in the recovery, not by bringing back memories but by bringing back time. Future follow-up of intensive care patients can be improved and individually adapted to give patients an opportunity for increased sense of coherence.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. , p. 20
Keywords [en]
Critical Care Nursing, ICU diary, ICU follow up, Intensive Care Unit, Focus Group Interviews, Nursing Research, Qualitative Research
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-49137OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-49137DiVA, id: diva2:1625100
Educational program
HS Omvårdnad
Supervisors
Examiners
2022-01-102022-01-052022-01-10Bibliographically approved