[Experiences and impressions of patients in an surgical-trauma intensive care unit]

Within the framework of a retrospective study performed by the Department of Anaesthesiology at Munich Technical University, 150 polytraumatized patients admitted to the intensive-care unit between 1976 and 1978 were questioned as to experiences and general impressions during their stay in the unit. The data obtained in this manner were recorded and systematically analysed. The average period of time between initial treatment and follow-up examination was 5 years. Average length of admission to the intensive-care unit was 20 days and the average age at time of injury was 27 years; 73% of the patients were artificially ventilated for approximately 7 days; 94 patients (63%) had cranio-cerebral trauma. A marked sense of security as well as strong emotional attachment to the ICU personnel were the most prevalent impressions obtained on questioning; these impressions were shared by almost all of the patients within the study. Reports of experience of anxiety were the exception. The presence of other patients within the same room, as well as the resulting opportunity to communicate with these patients, was psychologically supportive and provided a feeling of solidarity. Among the most prevalent of the negative impressions was a feeling of extreme thirst reported by 40 of the patients interviewed. Detrimental effects mentioned in many of the other investigations of intensive care patients such as loss of ability to communicate, lack of orientation as well as abolition of circadian rhythm played only a minor role in our study.