Understanding patients’ experiences of being discharged from ICU

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Understanding patients’ experiences of being discharged from critical care to a general ward – using a phenomenological approach

• IRAS ID

  264665

• Contact name

  Susan Parrotte

• Contact email

  Susan.Parrotte@meht.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Mid Essex Hospital Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 4 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  The study will enable practitioners to gain insight and understanding into the patient experience of being discharged from critical care to a ward. This knowledge could inform practice and enable improvements in the process to enhance future patients experience by potentially:
  Identifying gaps in the service
  Highlighting inconsistencies in practice
  Identifying what information was most useful, in what format and when it should be given.
  Allowing space for ideas and innovation from service users

  The research method will involve purposive sampling of eight participants who will have been patients in critical care. Participants will be invited by letter two to five months post discharge from critical care by a critical care consultant, who will act as gatekeeper.

  This cohort of patients will include both male and female, all ages from 18 years onwards, medical and surgical patients and those admitted electively or as an emergency. These participants should be representative from a wider population of critical care patients.
  A Participant Information Sheet will be used to provide information and informed voluntary consent will be obtained face to face prior to the interview. Participants will be offered a semi-structured interview with the researcher a senior sister in critical care. Each interview will encourage the participant to describe their experience of being discharged from critical care to a ward. This transition period involves the patient being prepared physically and psychologically for stepdown by healthcare professionals through information giving, discharge planning using a rehabilitation pathway and removal of invasive and monitoring devices. The questions will encourage patients to describe what happened to them and how they felt about it. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed. This data will be analysed using Colaizzi’s technique and findings will be reported including direct quotes from participants and a summary by the researcher.

• REC name

  East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  19/EM/0181

• Date of REC Opinion

  30 Jul 2019

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion