1. Follow-up visit in an ICU: receiving a sense of coherence
- Author
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Katarina Rogmalm, Åsa Engström, Lisa Marklund, and Britt-Marie Wälivaara
- Subjects
Data collection ,030504 nursing ,business.industry ,media_common.quotation_subject ,030208 emergency & critical care medicine ,Context (language use) ,Patient diary ,Coherence (statistics) ,Critical Care Nursing ,Intensive care unit ,law.invention ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Feeling ,Nursing ,law ,Critical care nursing ,Medicine ,0305 other medical science ,business ,media_common ,Qualitative research - Abstract
Aim To describe patients' experiences of a follow-up visit to an intensive care unit (ICU) after being critically ill and nursed there. Background Knowledge about the follow-up visit needs to be developed, with the previously critically ill patient in focus. Design Qualitative descriptive. Method Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine patients and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The data collection occurred during spring 2014. Findings During the follow-up visits in ICU, the relatives, the patient diary, and those who took part in the care contribute to fill memory gaps to create a picture and an explanation of the care period. Conclusion The follow-up visit is an important tool in the patients' struggle to create a context and coherence from a missing or unreal time. The patient diary is essential to subsequently be able to relate to the period of care. Relevance to clinical practice The follow-up visit, together with a personal diary, after an ICU stay could be seen as significant for strengthening the patients' feeling of coherence and better health.
- Published
- 2015