Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Oct 1999
A Heideggerian investigation into the lived experience of humour by nurses in an intensive care unit.
A literature search revealed no systematic enquiry into the experience of humour by nurses in the intensive care setting, suggesting that there was a need for such studies (Astedt-Kurki & Liukkonen 1994). This phenomenological study was undertaken using an interpretive human science approach of phenomenology grounded in the hermeneutics of Heidegger. The task was to investigate and describe the concept of humour in an intensive care unit (ICU) from an inductive-descriptive perspective, seeking to identify the essence of the phenomenon through an accurate description of the lived experience of humour. ⋯ Main core themes were identified and categorized, then Colaizzi's seven steps were used for analysis. Themes and categories identified in the collected data were rich and varied, allowing for lengthy discussions on thoughts and experiences. The study revealed a rich experience of humour in the ICU, suggesting that humour is central to nursing, and therefore worthy of deeper analysis using the same methodology.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Aug 1999
ReviewUse of the prone position in the management of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The positioning of patients is usually within the domain of nursing practice, whether this is to achieve increased comfort or as a therapeutic intervention to avoid the occurrence of pressure sores. The use of the prone position to improve oxygenation, in the acute respiratory distress syndrome, has become increasingly popular in intensive care over the past decade (Thomas 1997). A systematic review was, therefore, undertaken to ascertain if the prone position did, in fact, improve oxygenation, leading to decreased mortality, or if the effects were merely transitory. ⋯ However, caution should be taken in applying these results to practice. First, the studies available for review demonstrated various methodological flaws. It is also apparent that untoward incidences associated with the prone position have yet to be investigated systematically.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Aug 1999
Patients' and relatives' opinions and feelings about diaries kept by nurses in an intensive care unit: pilot study.
The underlying aim of this study was to obtain knowledge about the questions which could be of interest for a qualitative interview study, and for the planning and construction of a comparative study. The immediate aim was, however, to investigate whether the diary was of importance to patients after their discharge from the ICU or for relatives, following patients' deaths in the ICU. A diary was kept for nine months concerning ten patients together with eight patients who later died in the ICU. ⋯ It helped them to re-live and come to terms with their serious illness/injury and recall what had happened. For those who could not recollect their ICU stay, the diary helped them to remember 'the lost time'. All the relatives except one stated that it helped them to return and adjust to everyday life; made it easier to accept what had happened; and to understand the seriousness of the patient's injury or disease.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Apr 1999
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialImmediate effects of a five-minute foot massage on patients in critical care.
Critical care can be considered to be a stressful environment at both physiological and psychological levels for patients. In this article, a research study in which a five-minute foot massage was offered to 25 patients (68 sessions in total) as a stress-reduction intervention is described. A quasi-experimental repeated measures design was used to collect data before, during and after the intervention. ⋯ Repeated measures analysis of variance indicated there was no significant effect from the intervention on peripheral oxygen saturation. However, a significant decrease in heart rate, blood pressure and respirations was observed during the foot massage intervention. Results indicated foot massage had the potential effect of increasing relaxation as evidenced by physiological changes during the brief intervention administered to critically ill patients in intensive care.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Apr 1999
Taiwanese nurses' appraisal of a lecture on spiritual care for patients in critical care units.
The purpose of this study is to develop a lecture on spiritual care for adult critical care trainees, and to evaluate the trainees' appraisal of the effectiveness of this lecture in preparing them to provide spiritual care for their clients in a critical care setting. A between-method triangulation research design encompassing a questionnaire and descriptive qualitative content analysis was used. A convenience sample consisting of 64 registered nurses who attended an adult critical care nurse training programme in a leading medical centre in northern Taiwan were invited to participate in this study. ⋯ Three types of help were identified by the subjects: (1) help in clarifying the abstract concepts related to spiritual care (86%); (2) help in self-disclosing the nurses' personal beliefs and values regarding life goals, nursing, and spiritual needs (67%); (3) help in learning how to provide spiritual care to patients in a critical care setting (34%). Twenty per cent of the subjects thought that inclusion of the following content in the lecture would have been helpful to provide a more comprehensive picture of spiritual care: religious practices and rituals (11%); the culturally bonded nursing care plan (9%); the development of human spirituality (3%); patients' families' spiritual needs in the ICU (3%); and resources for nurses in providing spiritual care (2%). Thirteen per cent of the subjects suggested that the instructor might employ the following strategies to improve the quality of teaching: providing more empirical examples (5%); discussion with the students in classes of smaller size following the lecture or extending the instruction time (5%); and providing a syllabus with detailed information (3%).