Relatives' experiences of visiting a conscious, mechanically ventilated patient--a hermeneutic study

In recent years, light or no sedation has become a common approach to invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with respiratory distress. The experience of visiting a conscious patient receiving mechanical ventilation in the ICU has to our knowledge not yet been investigated.

The aim of the study was to describe the meaning attributed by relatives to their experiences of meeting, seeing and communicating with a patient cared for on a mechanical ventilator while conscious.

This study used a prospective, exploratory design comprising interviews with ten relatives conducted on two occasions; in connection with their visits to a patient cared for on a ventilator while conscious and approximately a week after the end of intensive care. The data were analysed by means of hermeneutic interpretation to obtain a deeper understanding of relatives' experiences.

Striving to achieve contact with the patient was the most important aspect of being a close relative of a patient receiving ventilator treatment while conscious and was described by four main themes: feeling ambivalent towards consciousness; feeling ambivalent towards sedation; feeling dependent on the carer and being disappointed; and suppressing own suffering and sadness.

The patients' consciousness enabled the relatives to judge their condition for themselves and enter into contact. This resulted in a sense of being in control but also efforts to suppress own suffering.