Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out whether there is a relationship between what the patient can see and hear of on-going activities in the intensive care unit and patient stress. The descriptive survey method was used. A checklist was developed from several sources in literature. Data were collected by observation of individual patients in two intensive care units and by recording their behavior on the checklist. Recording of stress signs was done for five minute intervals every thirty minutes for eight hours, making sixteen intervals for every eight hour period. Nineteen separate patient observations of eight hour nursing shifts were made. Of these, five were done on the 7 A.M. to 3 P.M. shift; eight on the 3 P.M. to 11 P.M. shift; and six on the 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. shift. A score was given on the checklist for each five minute time intervals for (1) physical signs of stress of the patient, and (2) environmental elements of on-going activities, making a total of three hundred and four interval scores. During each observation, patients were contacted to help them verbalize stress. One follow-up interview was done three to seven days following discharge from the intensive care unit to find out if the patient remembered the stress situation. The scores from the checklist for physical signs of stress were divided into low, moderate, and severe for each interval. Information from the interviews was used in the analysis of data. It was concluded that there was a statistically significant relationship between what the patient sees and hears of the on-going activities in the intensive care unit, and his observable stress. The stress-producing environmental factors identified in the study were occurrences which could be experienced by any patient in an intensive care unit. Intervals of cumulative stress were demonstrated. There was a difference in the recorded noise in the two hospitals which seemed to be due to noise-reducing construction in one hospital. There was more moderate stress on the 3 P.M. to 11 P.M. shift which seemed to be due to the greater number of people coming and going to and from the unit, contributing both to the noise and the general confusion. Severe stress did not seem to have any relationship to the nursing shift on which it occurred. The response of the patient to the environmental factors was influenced by the personality of the patient, the amount and type of sedation, and the changing physiological stresses of the patient.

LLU Discipline

Nursing

Department

Nursing

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

R. Maureen Maxwell

Second Advisor

Ellsworth E. Wareham

Third Advisor

Julia Bensonhaver

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1965

Date (Title Page)

6-1965

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Intensive Care Units

Type

Thesis

Page Count

vii; 80

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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