Help for the patient’s family in critical situations
Abstract
Intensive Care Units have an organizational structure that is designed to facilitate the work of medical and nursing staff and break the link between the individual and his or her environment.Care of the critical patient is incomplete if it does not include dealing with the problems of the family members.
The present study uses a descriptive-qualitative method to look at how ICU nurses help families to cope adequately with the loss of a loved one and how nurses feel about this situation.
Nurses feel themselves to be responsible for the care that families in mourning need. They take on an important role in the comfort given to relatives because they are constantly at the patients’ bedside, but they do not consider they are qualified when it comes to giving emotional support as they do not possess the appropriate mechanisms or skills to provide such care.
Downloads
The works published in this magazine are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) preserves the copyright of the published works, and encourages and allows the reuse of the works under the license for use stated in point 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2011 (© Publications Service, University of Murcia, 2011)
2. The works are published in the electronic edition of the journal under Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 España(texto legal) “ a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Spain license (legal text)”. They can be copied, used, broadcasted, transmitted and publicly displayed, provided that: i) the authorship and original source of their publication (journal, publisher and URL) are cited; (ii) are not used for commercial purposes; iii) the existence and specifications of this license is mentioned.
3. Conditions of self-archiving. Authors are allowed and encouraged to electronically disseminate the pre-print (pre-reviewed ) and / or post-print (reviewed and accepted for publication) versions of their works prior to publication, as it ensures a wider circulation and dissemination which may lead to a possible increase in its mention and a higher scope among the academic community. RoMEO color: green.
