Dale M Hilty
Mount Carmel College of Nursing, USA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Prim Health Care
In the face of sudden illness or injury, admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) may be inevitable. Patients in the ICU often require mechanical ventilation through an artificial airway which makes verbal communication impossible. The inability to speak, along with compounding factors that influence the level of consciousness, often complicate communication between the nurse and the patient, contributing to frustration. There is a wealth of information in the literature discussing the impact of mechanical ventilation on communication between the nurse and the patient in the ICU (Dithole et al., 2016) and communication strategies (Happ et al., 2011). Nursing theory and discussion related to caring as an integral component of human nature and nursing are widely discussed (Benner & Wrubel, 1988; Caine, 1991; Forrest, 1988; Watson, 2010). Students (N=130) visited two simulation center ICU rooms with an artificial machine representing a sedated patient, not moving, colorful waveform continuously flowing bedside monitor. A collage of the patientâ??s pictures was hung in one ICU room. Students completed a semantic differential questionnaire after spending several minutes in each room: (1) ICU room environments, (2) RN communication, (3) imagine they are RNs, and (4) imagine they are a family member. Using SPSS 25, a Dependent t-test analysis compared the ICU Room #1 with ICU Room #2 (a collage of pictures). ICU Room #2 had higher means on all comparisons. All ratings were statistically significant ranging from p=.001 to p=.042. Future research will explore differences among nursing students with two and three years of clinical experience.
Dale M Hilty, Associate Professor, received his PhD in counseling psychology from the Department of Psychology at the Ohio State University. He has published studies in the areas of psychology, sociology, and religion. Between April 2017 and April 2018, his ten research teams published 55 posters at local, state, regional, national, and international nursing conferences. His colleague sharing the author line of this poster is Theresa Cragen Draher, MS, RN, AGCNS-BC, CCRN Alumnus.
E-mail: dhilty@mccn.edu
