Spotlight on qualitative research

Exploring critically ill patients' and their relatives' experiences of intensive care unit during COVID-19: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Admission to an intensive care unit has physiological and psychological consequences for patients and families, including the family's fear that the patient might die. The COVID-19 pandemic underlined this and furthermore involved visiting restrictions separating patients and families.

AIM

To explore how patients with confirmed COVID-19 and their relatives experienced an intensive care unit stay and its significance for family dynamics.

STUDY DESIGN

A qualitative study was performed during the spring of 2020. Five dyadic interviews were conducted with COVID-19 patients admitted to an intensive care unit and their relatives. The analysis was inspired by Hochman's dyadic analysis.

FINDINGS

The analysis revealed three themes: (1) From ill to critically ill: The trauma of separation and fear of losing loved ones; (2) The relatives' significant role in creating a shared coherent understanding of the admission in ICU due to COVID-19; (3) The nurses' roles as a go-between in maintenance of the family dynamic.

CONCLUSION

Separation challenged family function and destabilized family dynamics. Nurses provided emotional support, information about and contact with the patient and relatives. The patients' distorted perception of reality and lack of memory were reconstructed in new family narratives, which offered relief and stabilization of family dynamics. The nurses entered into a triad with the patient and relatives, which also contributed to maintaining a relational dynamic in the family.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Maintaining communication between health professionals, relatives and patients, and usage of virtual visits during intensive care unit stay can support the family relationship. Nurse therapeutic conversations might help families' in redefining their family dynamics after ICU admission.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Qualitative Research Among Health Sciences Faculty

Background The importance of qualitative research in health sciences is rising. Qualitative research needs more attention from healthcare practitioners. Hence, some questions in the healthcare field may only be answered through qualitative research methodologies. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge, practice, and attitude among health sciences faculty about qualitative research. Methodology This cross-sectional study was conducted at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS). A convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from health sciences faculty participants. Participants were included from five different colleges, i.e., College of Medicine, Applied Health Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, and College of Dentistry. A 20-question, self-made questionnaire was given to each participant. The questionnaire had five attitude questions, 10 knowledge questions, and five practice questions. Results A total of 236 participants completed the study questionnaire. The majority of the study participants (198, 84%) had an overall poor knowledge of qualitative research methodologies. Most participants (214, 91%) agreed that qualitative research is important in health sciences. More than half of the participants had never attended a qualitative methods workshop (140, 59%). About three-quarters of the participants (175, 74%) had never participated in a qualitative research project. Conclusions The overall knowledge and practice of qualitative research methodologies were poor among KSAU-HS health sciences faculty while they had a good attitude toward its importance in health sciences.