Background
During COVID-19 pandemic, visits have been prohibited in most French ICUs. Psychological effects, for reference persons (RPs), of remote-only communication have been assessed.
Methods
All RPs of patients referred to ICU for COVID-19 were included. HADS, IES-R, and satisfaction were evaluated at admission, discharge/death, and 3 months. At 3 months, a psychologist provided a qualitative description of RPs’ psychological distress.
Results
Eighty-eight RPs were included. Prevalence of anxiety and depression was 83% and 73% respectively. At 3 months, lower HADS decrease was associated with patient death/continued hospitalization, and/or sleeping disorders in RPs (p < 0.01). Ninety-nine percent RPs felt the patient was safe (9 [7; 10]/10 points, Likert-type scale), confident with caregivers (10 [9; 10]/10 points), and satisfied with information provided (10 [9; 10]/10 points). All RPs stressed the specific-type of “responsibility” associated with being an RP in a remote-only context, leading RPs to develop narrow diffusion strategies (67%) and restrict the array of contacted relatives to a very few and/or only contacting them rarely. 10 RPs (30%) related the situation to a prior traumatic experience.
Conclusion
RPs experienced psychological distress and reported that being an RP in a remote-only communication context was a specific responsibility and qualified it as an overall negative experience.
Trial registration
NCT04385121. Registered 12 May 2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/.
This is a report of a fortunate story of an unusual AK-47 bullet trajectory which took place during the Paris (France) attack of November 13th, 2015. A young man, trying to protect his girlfriend, interfered between her and a shooter. He had been wounded in the posterior compartment of the thigh. The bullet penetrated him and, instead of exiting, rebound against his Smartphone, which was in the front pocket of his pants. Thanks to that, the missile bullet did not injure his girlfriend but ended its trajectory in the fat tissue of his thigh. Thabouillot O , Perrier P , Roche NC , Agard D , Barbier O , Martin G , Viant E , Leclere JB . A fortunate story of an unusual AK-47 bullet trajectory: always keep a Smartphone in your pocket. Prehosp Disaster Med, 2016;31(3):343-345.
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