VISIT_ICU
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Experiences of visitors to a regional major trauma intensive care unit
IRAS ID
233327
Contact name
Stefan Tino Kulnik
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, Kingston University and St George’s, University of Lon
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
pending, International Research Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov)
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Since 2011, people who have had a serious accident in England are no longer looked after at the hospital nearest to them. Instead, they are cared for at a specialist hospital called the regional major trauma centre. This is so that they can get the best possible care from specialist professionals.
St George's is the regional major trauma centre for the 2.6 million people living in South West London and Surrey County. This area stretches about 40 miles across.
About one fifth of major trauma patients who come to St George's live more than one hour's journey away. Their visitors often travel a similar distance or even further. Family members and friends play an important part during the patient's stay. It is important to support visitors.
We are doing a study to find out about the experiences of visitors whose family member or friend has been admitted to the major trauma intensive care unit at St George's. In particular, we want to find out about the experiences of visitors who travel from far.
First, we will interview ten long-distance visitors to find out more about their experiences. We will then put together a survey questionnaire and survey approximately 150 long-distance visitors who have been to St George's in recent months. This will help us understand peoples' experiences of visiting at St George's, and what people thought was going well and things that could be better. The study will end with a service improvement workshop with representatives from the team at St George's and visitors. We will discuss the findings and decide what should be improved.
This study is being funded by St George's Hospital Charity. The study runs from August 2017 to October 2018.REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0381
Date of REC Opinion
20 Sep 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion