Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Jul 2021
Exploring family members' and health care professionals' perceptions on ICU diaries: a systematic review and qualitative data synthesis.
Although the intensive care unit (ICU) diary has been proposed as a tool for preventing psychiatric symptoms in survivors of critical illness, relatives and health care providers may benefit from it too. This study aims to summarize the current qualitative evidence on families' and health care professionals' experiences of writing in and reading the ICU diaries. ⋯ This qualitative synthesis shows that family members and health care professionals consider the ICU diary a valuable intervention. It also brings evidence to challenges faced during diary writing, which should be carefully approached in order to reduce the stress associated with this process.