The Effect of Environmental Stressors on Patient Experience in Medical, Surgical, and COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit

Semra Bulbuloglu; Fadime Çınar; Gülsüm Nihal Çürük

doi:10.1177/23743735221092545

The Effect of Environmental Stressors on Patient Experience in Medical, Surgical, and COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit

J Patient Exp. 2022 Apr 12:9:23743735221092545. doi: 10.1177/23743735221092545. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Semra Bulbuloglu¹, Fadime Çınar², Gülsüm Nihal Çürük³

Affiliations

¹ Surgical Nursing Division, Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Istanbul Aydin University, Istanbul, Turkey.
² Surgical Nursing Division, Nursing Department, Health Sciences High School, Istanbul Nisantasi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
³ Internal Medicine Nursing Division, Nursing Department, Health Sciences Faculty, Izmir Ekonomi University, Izmir, Turkey.

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of environmental stressors on patients' intensive care experiences in medical, surgical, and COVID-19 intensive care units (ICUs). The sample group consisted of 231 patients hospitalized in medical and surgical ICUs and agreed to participate in the study. The data analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The average age of the patients was 53.67 ± 13.3, 55.4% were male, 47.6% were high school graduates, and 45.5% were followed up in the COVID-19 ICU. It was also found that there was a negative and moderate degree of correlation between the Intensive Care Experience Scale (ICES) and the Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressors Scale (ICUESS). Environmental stressors in ICUs are associated with patient experiences. It is clear that ICU stressors create a negative perception in the patient and this situation is emotionally exhausting.

Keywords: COVID-19; environment; intensive care units; patient experience; stressor.