Familiares de pacientes com AVC em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva: impactos do adoecimento

Abstract

This study's main objective is to know the impact of the disease to the relatives of victims of stroke patients who are admitted to the intensive care unit. Usually, the literature has shown work done with families of patients suffering chronic illness, studies that address the family at the start of the illness are scarce. The initial moments of hospitalization in an ICU are characterized as a challenge to be faced by the family that often, but do not know this reality, they have fantasies about their meaning. Parallel to this is the fact that his patient had been affected by an acute onset of disease and that may be limiting to the individual. In order to see this reality, were performed retrospectively records of visits made by the psychology service to patients whose relatives are hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Such visits have a script that cover issues relevant to the experience of illness and the process by which it was possible to highlight the main feelings about the main questions arising and the main coping mechanisms used by the families concerned. The text analysis of care possible to know how shocking it can be an acute illness. Fear of death and disability, the need for changes in family roles and how to care for patients after discharge are just some of the points highlighted in this work. It was evident the importance of maintaining good communication between staff and relatives, besides the presence of skilled professionals to deal with this audience in a delicate moment.