Journal of advanced nursing
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Comparative Study
A comparison of nurses' and patients' perceptions of intensive care unit stressors.
This study was designed to compare intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' and patients' perceptions of the stressfulness of items in the environment for patients in an ICU. The sample consisted of 20 ICU patients and 23 registered nurses employed in the medical and surgical ICUs at a large midwestern university hospital. The patients were contacted 1 to 2 days after transfer from an ICU and asked to complete the Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressor Scale (ICUESS), a Likert-type questionnaire designed to measure the stressfulness of commonly occurring items in the ICU environment. ⋯ These responses were compared using chi-square tests for homogeneity. Nurses mentioned 'being tied down by tubes' and 'not being in control of oneself' significantly more times than did patients. The items 'being in pain', 'having tubes in your nose or mouth', and 'not being able to sleep' were listed most often by both nurses and patients.