Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Aug 1995
Preventing the ITU syndrome or how not to torture an ITU patient! Part 2.
Admission to an intensive therapy unit (ITU) has been described as a 'necessary evil' (Barrie-Shevlin 1987), and some of the 'tortures' described in Part I of this article (Dyer 1995) may be an inevitable result of ITU care. This does not mean that the development of the ITU syndrome should be regarded as inevitable. Many potential causes of the syndrome can be avoided or at least ameliorated. ⋯ The main emphasis should be placed on prevention, but early detection and treatment of problems should also be given high priority. If a patient exhibits symptoms of psychological disturbance physical causes should be considered, but at the same time the ITU syndrome should be suspected and attempts made to alleviate possible causes of this. Nurses play a vital role in any attempts to alleviate problems and in 'humanising' the technical ITU environment (Ashworth 1987, Mackellaig 1990).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)