Intensive therapy unit nurses' beliefs about and attitudes towards visiting in three district general hospitals

The beliefs and attitudes of intensive therapy unit (ITU) nurses regarding visiting of critically ill patients are believed to be influenced by many factors, such as the need to promote patient rest, the need to prevent physiological and psychological complications to the patient and the need to improve communications between all parties. In this paper, some of the factors are examined with attempts to establish whether there are any correlations between such factors as the length of time individual nurses have worked in the area, their professional qualifications, their job satisfaction and their perceptions of visiting and visitors. Sixty-eight nurses from three general ITUs situated in district general hospitals were interviewed. The conclusion was that nurses still have many negative beliefs and attitudes towards visiting and visitors. ITU nurses in this study generally appeared to consider the effects of visiting pessimistically, suggesting they believe they are doing so in the best interests of the patients, themselves and the ITU itself.