Coronary patient and the environment of intensive care unit: an approach of invasive procedures

Abstract

This is a study about the influence of the quantity of invasive procedures to which the patient of an intensive care unit is submitted, and its relation to his perception of his environment. A hundreed patients with medical diagnosis of acute heart insufficiency, all of the same unit, have been interviewed. They were divided into 2 groups: Group A (submitted to more invasive procedures) and group B (submitted to a lesser number of invasive procedures). The statistical analysis showed that there was no difference between Group A and Group B in the quantity and nature of problems. The majority of the patients of the two groups felt mostly the problem of being inside a hospital, away from home. Only a minority described problems referring to sounds and images of their environment.