by
Angela Tolotti, Annamaria Bagnasco, Gianluca Catania, Giuseppe Aleo, Nicola
Pagnucci, Lucia Cadorin, Milko Zanini, Gennaro Rocco, Alessandro Stievano,
Franco A. Carnevale, Loredana Sasso
Intensive
Critical Care Nursing – In press
Abstract
Objectives
To describe
the experience and sources of comfort and discomfort in tracheostomy patients,
when they communicate with nurses in the Intensive Care Unit.
Research
methodology/design
Benner’s
interpretive phenomenology. Data were collected through: a) semi-structured
interviews conducted with the patients after leaving the intensive care unit;
b) participant observation; c) situated interviews with intensive care nurses.
Setting
The
intensive care unit of a hospital in Northern Italy.
Findings
Eight
patients and seven nurses were included in this study. Two main themes were
identified 1) feeling
powerless and frustrated due to the impossibility to use voice to communicate; 2) facing continual misunderstanding,
resignation, and anger during moments of difficulty and/or communication
misunderstandings. The main communication discomfort factors
were: struggling with not knowing what was happening, feeling like others had
given up on me, living in isolation and feeling invisible. The main comfort
factors were: being with family members, feeling reassured by having a call
bell nearby and nurses' presence.
Conclusions
This study
highlights the important role of communication in tracheostomy patients in
intensive care and how closely it is linked to all the aspects of a person’s
life, which cannot be underestimated as just not being able to use one’s voice.
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