Interview Section : Healthtalkonline

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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:

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

People's stories

Aged 41-50

Interview 24

Interview 24

Age at Interview: 46
Sex: Female
Background: Kitchen manager, married with two adult daughters. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

Brief outline:Her mother had cardiac arrest. She spent nine days in ICU and now lives with her daughter. She received a lot of support from her family.

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The ambulance arrived quickly and her mother was taken from Accident and Emergency to ICU within a few hours because she'd had cardiac arrest.
Print My brother was coming down to stay for a few days, sort of 21st July. And you [mother] went to answer the door about 11 o'clock at night and you collapsed straight down onto the floor. And so my sister-in-law was able to get in the door and she gave you CPR [caridopulmonary resuscitation] and then she phoned the ambulance but where we lived the firemen came and they were able to shock you twice. So it is very useful that they are trained as, not as paramedics but they are medically trained as well. And then the ambulance came. [My sister-in-law] phoned us up before the ambulance came so we came straight down because we only live up the road and we were talking to the firemen about your medication. They wanted to know everything she was on and wrote it all down and then the ambulance man took you to [the hospital] to A & E and we went straight in to the sort of reception and gave them all our details and we sat down and waited. It wasn't too long, about half an hour and then they let us in to see you and they had put a tube down your mouth. It was intubation, something like that, and you were sedated and they put a tube down your mouth and then they took you up to ICU and they made you comfortable up there. And we were able to go in pretty much after you got up there, I suppose, really, about an hour or so afterwards. And then we stayed until about four in the morning, made sure you were stable and then we came home and tried to get some sleep. And then we went back in the next day.

The relatives' room wasn't really big enough and you couldn't make yourself a drink.
Print Had you ever been in an Intensive Care Unit before? No. No I didn't really know what to expect. But they were very good. You have to put a bleep and they have got a video camera and they let you in, which is very good I suppose. They have to have security. And there was a waiting room. You could have done with a coffee machine. In the waiting room? Yes. There wasn't. It was further down in the hospital. So it was quite a walk. Was there anybody else in the waiting room? Yes there was. It could have done with being a bit bigger actually because there was only three chairs and a sort of smallish settee. There was another gentleman as well whose wife had died sadly and there was a few other families coming and going as well. And did you talk to them? No. He didn't seem to want to talk. You know, he didn't make eye contact or anything so… Did you sit in the waiting room a lot? Yes a lot. Especially if, say, they were doing something to mum we would go and sit in there. And sometimes we have been there for about an hour and they would come and get us. How would you have liked that waiting room improved if they were going to improve it? Well it had a telly. Just may be a little bit bigger. And a coffee machine or some kind of machine like that. There was a toilet and everything in there, so it was okay.

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