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Intensive care
Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Reasons for admission :
Emergency admissions
Planned admissions
In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) :
Seeing the patient in ICU for the first time
Suspending normal routines: visiting ICU every day
Uncertainty
Emotional impact on relatives & friends in ICU
Impact on children
Telling others
Relationships within and between families
Receiving information and news from doctors
Sources of information in ICU
Nursing care
Keeping a diary
Sources of support in ICU
At the bedside:
Waiting for news
Signs of improvement and progress
The relatives' room and overnight accommodation:
The relatives' room
Overnight accommodation
When someone dies :
End of life decisions
Death and bereavement:
When someone dies
Funerals
Coping with bereavement
On a general ward :
The ward environment and nursing care
Hospital discharge and rehabilitation
Life after leaving the hospital :
Supporting and caring for the ill person at home
Impact on work and finances
Attitudes to life after the hospital experience
Messages to others
Emotional impact on relatives and carers
Emotional impact on family and friends
Adjusting to a changed life
Support and information
Support and information
Lack of support and information
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Aged 41-50
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Interview 33
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She and her husband had talked about end of life decisions and her husband had said he wouldn't want to live if he would be left brain damaged.
Her husband was admitted to ICU after having emergency surgery. It was particularly difficult looking after other family members as well as visiting her husband.
Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Aged 51-60
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Interview 20
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They didn't want their relative to be kept alive if she would be brain damaged because she wouldn't want to live like that.
In 2004 his wife and her mother spent six months in hospital and was admitted to ICU three times because of sepsis and heart problems.
Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Aged 41-50
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Interview 30
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It is important for relatives to think about what the patient would want, however hard this may seem at the time.
His father died in ICU, aged 83. Being an intensive care doctor, he was able to provide information and support to his mother and brother.
Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Aged 51-60
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Interview 12
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At the time, she just wanted her son to live but now feels this would have been selfish because he wouldn't have wanted to be completely dependent on
In 2005 her 21-year-old son sadly died in ICU. She focuses as much as she can on remembering the good memories they shared.
Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Aged 41-50
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Interview 30
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His 83-year-old father had spent five weeks in ICU and wasn't improving. He and his mother felt it was kinder for doctors to withdraw treatment and pu
His father died in ICU, aged 83. Being an intensive care doctor, he was able to provide information and support to his mother and brother.
Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
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Aged 31-40
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Interview 13
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She didn't want her husband to suffer any more and agreed with the doctor's advice to withdraw his treatment.
In 2006 her husband had liver disease and pneumonia and sadly died in ICU. She has gained strength from having counselling and from her spirituality.
Intensive care
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Intensive care: experiences of family & friends
>>
Aged 41-50
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Interview 30
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His 83 year old father developed a succession of complications following surgery for cancer and finally died while still on ICU.
His father died in ICU, aged 83. Being an intensive care doctor, he was able to provide information and support to his mother and brother.
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