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Icu Patient Diary Essay

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The aim of the study was to explore family members’ experiences with the use of a diary when a sick relative did not survive the stay in the ICU. The overall study findings revealed that the diary was experienced as a medium for interpersonal communication, where it was perceived as a social medium maintaining communication and the relationship with the patient. But the diary was also a common interest affecting writers and readers in different ways, thus sharing information, emotions and thoughts enabled relationships, which grew. Not only relationships developed but also participants as humans due to the course of events and finally the death of the patient. The experience was compared to taken on a journey but in an existential way by the participants. To understand the unfamiliar in a way different from the way in which it has been understood so far, also include a way to understand him/herself in a new way (Gadamer, 1989).
The diary promoted a rational understanding of the critical illness and later death. This theme, in turn was backed up by the subthemes; diary provided information, and the diary reflected the patient’s …show more content…

In that the diary confirmed the present at the bedside, expressed a sign of hope to the bitter end, promoted contribution to caregiving, relaying understandable information, conveyed the feeling that nursing staff cared for the patient and assured that the patient was receiving the best care possible. The findings have been highlighted previously in a study from Johansson et al. (2015). In this study, where the patient died, it is evidently how the diary met the needs of participants in the ICU, and this generated a feeling of trust in the care, especially after death. Confidence in the care was stated in expression like ‘ he/she got every chance, did as well as they

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