[The relationship between relatives and nurses in the Intensive Care Units]

The relations between the nurses and relatives in the Intensive Care Unit is not always without problems, even if nursing theories unanimously advocate that the nursing staff is responsible for the care of these relatives. Since up to now only marginal empirical examinations concerning the relationship exist, this qualitative, explorative study will look into the nature of the relationship between relatives and nurses in the Intensive Care Unit. Narrative interviews with the relatives and narrative-episodic interviews with the nursing staff made it possible to recreate situations and to detect hidden and not conscious meanings, intentions and behaviour. Key situations could be brought out more clearly which are meaningful to both sides and from which could be extracted the problems which make dealing with one another difficult. Elements which are important in the relationship show themselves in the key situations "first contact", "information", "feelings", "presence and waiting", "dealing with the patient", "feedbacks" and "rules". The interviewed relatives did not experience themselves as part of the nursing work--decisive was that the relative is well taken care of. The nursing staff also experience the support and care of the relatives as an addition to their actual work.