In the care for the critically ill patient the next of kin is of great importance. Their support, love and care for the patient, increases the wellbeing and makes a connection to the patient?s normal lifeworld. For the next of kin to be able to be that support the next of kin needs to be helped to maintain the basic need of for example their sleep, food, hygiene and psychosocial support. The critical care nurse must see to the patient?s whole lifeworld which includes their next of kin.The aim of the study was to identify the resources available for the next of kin in Intensive care units in Sweden.

The Intensive care Unit (ICU) is a special unit for patients who is in the need for emergency life-sustaining measures and every patient has complex medical- technical equipment. The experiences of a critical illness and the needs of critical care are experienced in different ways. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences from patients in the ICU and how this experience has an influence on the patients. The method was a study of literature with a qualitative inception based on eight scientific articles and the analysis of content has been inspired by Graneheim and Lundman (2003). The result of the study is presented by four categories: to loose the ability to make themselves understood, to be forced to adjust to the environment of caring, to have the lack of connection with reality and to be in an Intensive care environment, The results showed that patients in the ICU are affected by the attitude from the staff, the equipment around them as well as the sounds and lights in the environment there.

ABSTRACTAim. To describe Intensive care nurses´ experiences of caring for patients with postoperative delirium after heart surgery.Background. Delirium is a common condition after heart surgery. Previous research has focused more on pathophysiology, incidence, etiology, prevention, detection and management, and less on how nurses caring for patients with delirium experience it.Design. A qualitative interview study.Method.

The Intensive care Unit (ICU) is a special unit for patients who is in the need for emergency life-sustaining measures and every patient has complex medical- technical equipment. The experiences of a critical illness and the needs of critical care are experienced in different ways. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences from patients in the ICU and how this experience has an influence on the patients. The method was a study of literature with a qualitative inception based on eight scientific articles and the analysis of content has been inspired by Graneheim and Lundman (2003). The result of the study is presented by four categories: to loose the ability to make themselves understood, to be forced to adjust to the environment of caring, to have the lack of connection with reality and to be in an Intensive care environment, The results showed that patients in the ICU are affected by the attitude from the staff, the equipment around them as well as the sounds and lights in the environment there.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe Intensive care nurses? experiences communicating with patients during mechanical ventilation.Methods/design: A qualitative interview study. Interviews where analyzed using descriptive content analysisSetting: Nine Intensive care nurses from two different Intensive care units were interviewed using a semi structured interview guide.Background: Past research has shown that patients during mechanical ventilation in the Intensive care unit, feel very vulnerable and the helplessness of being unable to speak. These patients feels that they are completely dependent on the nurses and their competence. It has been shown to be very important that the patient feels included, acknowledged and respected.Results: The analyzed data resulted in a theme; through communication strive to preserve patients´ dignity and three main categories; create relationship to the patient, minimize patients´ vulnerability and don´t give up.

The aim: was to describe and compare a group of experts and critical care nurses' agreement in detecting delirium in intubated, ventilator treated patients with sedation / analgesia, before and after an in house training intervention with the instrument Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive care Unit (CAM-ICU).Method: A quasi-experimental study, one group pretest - posttest design. A convenience sample of 17 critical care nurses in a general Intensive care unit included. To detect delirium the instrument CAM-ICU was used, 21 paired tests before and 22 after an educational intervention.Main Results: The results showed that after an in house training intervention sensitivity and kappa coefficient improved of the characteristic 1 "acute onset and fluctuating course," an improvement that was significant. In other features, and overall values were signs of numerical improvement and deterioration in sensitivity, specificity and kappa coefficient but no significant change.Conclusion: Implementing a new instrument for detecting delirium in clinical practice requires education and follow-up. A small sample of critical care nurses with varying ability to use the new instrument and the fact that patients' status may change rapidly making it difficult to draw any conclusions from this study.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe Intensive care nurses? experiences communicating with patients during mechanical ventilation.Methods/design: A qualitative interview study. Interviews where analyzed using descriptive content analysisSetting: Nine Intensive care nurses from two different Intensive care units were interviewed using a semi structured interview guide.Background: Past research has shown that patients during mechanical ventilation in the Intensive care unit, feel very vulnerable and the helplessness of being unable to speak. These patients feels that they are completely dependent on the nurses and their competence. It has been shown to be very important that the patient feels included, acknowledged and respected.Results: The analyzed data resulted in a theme; through communication strive to preserve patients´ dignity and three main categories; create relationship to the patient, minimize patients´ vulnerability and don´t give up.

AbstractBackground: Becoming a parent to a child in need of Neonatal Intensive care can be a traumatic experience. During a time when the parents may need support, guidance and a sense of control ? the family might need to relocate to a hospital away from home if the child needs highly specialized medical care at a Neonatal Intensive care Unit. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the parents? experience of having to change neonatal care unit.

Early extubation of cardiac surgery patients has become increasingly important. The assessment of the patient before an early extubation is crucial and the Intensive care nurses (ICU nurses) in this estimation is there for very important.The aim of this study was to examine critical care nurses' knowledge of early extubation, and what view ICU nurse has about factors that affect the time to extubation of cardiac surgery patients.A quantitative approach with descriptive and comparative design was used. Selection was all ICU nurses at a thoracic Intensive care unit who were clinically active in patient care.The study showed that ICU nurses had good knowledge of why an early extubation was essential. However, the knowledge about the unit?s extubation criteria was low.

Being a patient in Intensive care can be experienced terrifying. Studies have demonstrated the link between unpleasant memories of hospitalization in the ICU and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and perception of quality of life in its aftermath. Placed on a ventilator, the patient is exposed to multiple invasive procedures. The aim was to describe critical care patients' experience of being intubated or tracheostomated. Method: Literature review using conventional content analysis.

AbstractBackground: Becoming a parent to a child in need of Neonatal Intensive care can be a traumatic experience. During a time when the parents may need support, guidance and a sense of control ? the family might need to relocate to a hospital away from home if the child needs highly specialized medical care at a Neonatal Intensive care Unit. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the parents? experience of having to change neonatal care unit.

AbstractBackground: Becoming a parent to a child in need of Neonatal Intensive care can be a traumatic experience. During a time when the parents may need support, guidance and a sense of control ? the family might need to relocate to a hospital away from home if the child needs highly specialized medical care at a Neonatal Intensive care Unit. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the parents? experience of having to change neonatal care unit.

Introduction: Today caring for newborn, sick babies or premature infants is in neonatal Intensive care units (NICUs). There is an opportunity in NICUs for advanced critical care and skilled nursing care of the child, conducted by health professionals in an active partnership with parents. To encourage parental participation in the care of their children parents are offered accommodation in a family room in the NICU. Objective: The aim is to describe parents' experience to stay in a family room in the NICU when their child is cared for there. Method: This is a research plan for a qualitative study with an inductive, descriptive approach.

Patients in Intensive care are often intubated, and therefore unable to speak, which leads to difficulties in communication. The ICU is a very stressful environment and can be experienced as foreign and frightening by both patients and their close ones. The ICU nurse?s caring responsibilities includes both the care of the critically ill patient and the support of relatives who are often in shock. This balance is not always straightforward, and acting professionally in both instances can lead to problems.

Bakgrund: Patienters upplevelser av intensivvård har i många studier undersökts från ett kvalitativt perspektiv. För att kunna skapa resultat som är generaliserbara behövs kvantitativa studier som utgår från validerade instrument.Syfte: Syftet är att översätta, validera och testa instrumentet Intensive care Experience Questionnaire (ICEQ), vilket har för avsikt att undersöka patienters upplevelser av att vårdas på intensivvårdsavdelning.Metod: Instrumentet översattes till svenska i en process som inkluderade både expertgruppsbedömning och back-translation till engelska. Den svenska versionen av ICEQ (items=31) testades i en pilotstudie med patienter som vårdats på en intensivvårdsavdelning.Resultat: Deltagarna (n=14) hade en medianålder på 59 år och medelvårdtid på 2,0 dygn. Majoriteten var nöjda med vården, men många patienter som erhållit invasiv ventilatorbehandling hade skrämmande upplevelser. Genom en explorativ faktoranalys skapades fyra kategorier av frågor.