The ICU patient room: views and meanings as experienced by the next of kin: a phenomenological hermeneutical study

Abstract

The rooms in Intensive Care Units are considered as high-tech environments and believed to affect recovery process and wellbeing of patients. Moreover, the design and interiors affect the interplay between the patient and the next of kin.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe and interpret the meanings of the intensive care patient room as experienced by next of kin.

Design: Next of kin (n=14) from two different intensive care units participated. Data were collected through photo-voice and analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutical method.

Results: Three major themes emerged; dwelling in the room and time, becoming at home and extension of the room. The results show that the room is perceived as a lived and extended place and space. The design, interiors and furnishing in the patient room are fundamental in shaping the next of kin's experiences in the room and affect wellbeing.

Conclusions: How intensive care patient rooms are designed, the place given to next of kin and the way they are received in the room are decisive for the support given to the loved one. Simple interventions can make the patient room a more healing environment.