Intensivvårdsrummets betydelse för vårdande och välbefinnande patienters närståendes och vårdpersonalens erfarenheter

Sammanfattning: Aim: The overall aim of the thesis was to illuminate the meanings of intensive careunits’ patient rooms as a place of care for critically ill patients and their loved ones.Moreover, it was aimed to develop photovoice as a data collection method for research in ICU context.Methods and materials: Data has been collected using photovoice methodology incombination with research interviews for all three empirical studies. In total 37 people participated. Nine patients, fourteen loved ones and fourteen nurses from three ICU settings. Study I examined the perspective of loved ones, for this purpose a phenomenological hermeneutic method rooted in the philosophy of Ricoeur was chosen. Study II and III examined patients’ respectively nurses’ perspective. Bothstudies are phenomenologically orientated guided by a reflective lifeworld approachrooted in continental philosophy. Study IV is a theoretical paper focusing onemploying photovoice as a data collection method in ICU context.Main findings: The tone and touch of caring is vital for how ICU patient room ismaterialized for patients. The interior design and furnishing has a great impact onthe wellbeing of the loved ones and also the support they can offer the critically illpatient. One major finding is that the ICU patient room is a taken for granted placefor health care providers and the impact of it upon caring, patients’ and loved oneswellbeing is not reflected over. It also seems unclear who is responsible for theenvironment of ICU once it has been built. The environment of ICU affects nurses’ability to care for the patients and their family in a genuine way and to promotetheir wellbeing during a fragile time in life.Conclusions: There is an urgent need to translate research findings into clinicalpractice in order to improve the environment of ICU patient rooms. There is also need of further research and policies for transforming the hostile environment ofthe patient rooms to a healing environment more conductive to people’s recoveringprocess.