[Stressful environmental events in the Intensive Care Unit]

Abstract

The high standard of specialization of the Intensive Care Units (ICU) creates a stressful setting that generates anxiety and stress for the patients. This has been related to delirium or acute confusional syndrome.

Objectives: To describe the stressful environmental events as perceived by patients an, to establish the differences between patients who suffered from delirium in ICU and those who did not suffer from it.

Material and methods: Descriptive crosssectional study that includes a qualitative part. A total of 91 patients were interviewed, 33 patients diagnosed of delirium in the ICU and 58 patients without this diagnosis. Ballard's Environmental stressful events scale with 43 items was used to determine the most stressful events. In addition, an open interview was carried out in which the patients could narrate their experiences in the ICU. Descriptive statistic was used to show the characteristics of patients selected and to determine the frequency distributions for each item inthe questionnaire.

Results: The factors perceived as the most stressful were: thirst(62.6%), sleep deprivation (42.9%), tubes in mouth or nose (35.2)and not knowing what time it was (34.1). Patients who suffered from delirium perceive disorientation or hallucinations as stressants

Conclusions: As in previous investigations, ICU patiens, who did not suffered from delirium, perceived phisycal needs as most streesfull events.