• Mary G Carey, Brandon W Qualls, and Colleen Burgoyne.
• Mary G. Carey is director, Clinical Nursing Research Center, and associate professor, School of Nursing Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. Brandon W. Qualls is coordinator, Clinical Nursing Research Center, University of Rochester Medical Center. Colleen Burgoyne is a family nurse practitioner, University of Rochester Medical Center. mary_carey@urmc.rochester.edu.
• Am. J. Crit. Care. 2019 Mar 1; 28 (2): 149-151.

BackgroundSubjecting patients to stress has potentially detrimental effects on their physical and psychological recovery.ObjectiveTo identify stress-generating experiences that occur in an intensive care unit for patients after cardiac surgery.MethodsA sample of 16 patients in a 14-bed cardiovascular intensive care unit at a university hospital in upstate New York completed a questionnaire (based on an established survey) asking them to rate 23 experiences on a Likert scale of 0 to 4. All patients were adults and had undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery. After surgery, they were extubated and completed the questionnaire within 12 to 24 hours.ResultsPatients reported pain to be the most stressful experience, followed by presence of an endotracheal tube and sleeplessness.ConclusionsWith pain, endotracheal intubation, and sleeplessness identified as highly distressing to patients, further research can be done to elicit interventions that could alleviate some of the stress involved with a postoperative stay in an intensive care unit.

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