Humanistic Care in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: Nurses working in intensive care units do their main part of the job using medical equipment. Scholars have long debated the impact of technology on nursing. Those on the negative side perceive technologies as obtrusive to comprehensive humanistic care. Up to now, there has been little investigation of the nurses' perceptions of this phenomenon. The aim of the study was, therefore, to explore the perceptions of nurses and attendants of humanistic care in the intensive care unit.Methods: The present study was a qualitative conventional content analysis conducted in an intensive care unit in a hospital in Qazvin, Iran, in 2019. Data was collected using unstructured interviews and field notes and then analyzed using the Elo-Kyngäs method in 2008.Results: Continuous and comparative analysis of the data led to the extraction of 4 main themes as follows: 1) Insufficient understanding of nurses and patients’ families of each other's roles, needs, and expectations; 2) The use of personal and situational reasoning rather than ethical principles; 3) Caring stagnation, and 4) Satisfaction with care.Conclusion: The findings of the study indicated that due to lack of equipment, high workloads, and anxieties, nurses and attendants might not be able to understand each other’s roles and expectations. If it is not resolved properly, this situation will end in conflicts and stagnation in healthcare. Patients admitted to an intensive care unit are usually in critical health conditions. However, nurses feel satisfied with the outcome of their jobs when those patients are discharged from the hospital with a stable health condition. Shedding more light on the humanistic care status in intensive care units in Iran, the results of this research can be applied to health professionals and nursing managers.