Open AccessUsing an ICU Diary to Communicate With Family Members of COVID-19 Patients in ICU: A Case Report
Author(s) -
Junpei Haruna,
Hiroomi Tatsumi,
Satoshi Kazuma,
Hajime Kuroda,
Yuya Goto,
Wakiko Aisaka,
Hirofumi Terada,
Yoshiki Masuda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of patient experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2374-3743
pISSN - 2374-3735
DOI - 10.1177/23743735211034094
Subject(s) - intensive care unit , feeling , covid-19 , family member , pandemic , intensive care , medicine , psychology , family medicine , nursing , intensive care medicine , social psychology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , virology , outbreak
Visitation restrictions for family members are problematic in intensive care management due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed the usefulness of an intensive care unit (ICU) diary about the experiences of family members of critical COVID-19 patients. Four family members of 2 COVID-19 patients participated in this report. Both patients were transferred to our ICU after 2 weeks of treatment at another ICU. An ICU diary was given to their family members post-transfer. The family members were interviewed before and after the patients’ discharge; the recorded interviews were analyzed and categorized into several clusters using a text mining method. Five categories regarding their anxious feelings were classified before the use of the ICU diary, and 3 categories were based on their positive feelings after the use of the ICU diary. Intensive care unit diaries may be beneficial for disclosing patients’ information when visitation restrictions are exercised due to the COVID-19 pandemic.