Authors

1Carmen Ortega Segura, 2Laura Ginesta Albert, 3María Antonia Martorell Poveda

Position

1 Enfermera. Máster en Ciencias de la Enfermería. Profesora Asociada. Departamento de Enfermería. Universidad Rovira i Virgili. Enfermera asistencial. Servicio de Reanimación. Hospital Sant Pau i Santa Tecla. Tarragona.2 Enfermera quirúrgica. Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. Quirófano de Urgencias.3 Enfermera. Doctora en Antropología Médica. Profesora Titular. Departamento de Enfermería. Universidad Rovira i Virgili. Investigadora del Medical Anthropological Research Center Universidad Rovira i Virgili. Tarragona.

Contact address

Carmen Ortega Segura C/ Pere Martell, 49-51, 2º G. 43005 Tarragona.

Contact email: carme.ortega73@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to describe the different needs of the relatives of patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), as well as their priorities and the feelings experienced during hospitalization.
Method: a pilot study was conducted with qualitative methodology describing the needs, through individual interviews with the families of patients admitted to the ICU of the Hospital de Sant Pau i Santa Tecla in Tarragona. The sample was obtained through a non-probability snowball sampling technique. Its subsequent analysis, based on the verbatim transcription of interviews, was conducted from a phenomenological view, developing categories about the matter to be studied.
Results: the needs detected in families included: information, closeness, safety, being calm, hope, and practical needs or in terms of resources. They also described feelings and emotions experienced during the hospitalization of their relative; among these, the main ones were crying and fear of death of their loved one. The ICU where the study was conducted had the distinctive feature of an open-door regimen of visiting hours, therefore the priority scale of needs in these relatives was different from what was found in previous studies. In this case, those needs of a practical nature were considered the priority, because the need for closeness, one of the most prominent described in literature, was well covered by flexibility in visiting hours. Within practical needs, the most demanded by families was psychological help at the time of the admission of their relative
Conclusions: it has been demonstrated that families do have needs during the hospitalization of their relative, and that those needs are equal to those described in the literature on the subject; with the difference that, if these needs are well covered, the importance of other needs will now increase.

Keywords:

Hospitalized patients; ICU; family needs; information; hope; fear of death of the loved one

Versión en Español

Título:

Necesidades de la familia de los pacientes ingresados en una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos