[Emotional disorders and psychological needs of patients in an Intensive Care Unit]. / Alteraciones emocionales y necesidades psicológicas de pacientes en una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos.

From the time when a disease whose treatment is going to require hospitalization for a surgical intervention is diagnosed, both the patient and his/her family members or primary caretakers are involved in a process that may involve the experience of several emotional alterations. This work focuses on the description of the different psychological problems and needs manifested by the patients who require, as part of the treatment process and recovery control, admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). During the patient's stay in the ICU, the emotional alterations mentioned most frequently by them are anxiety, stress, depression or the so-called intensive care syndrome, during which factors such as excessive noise that may make sleeping and rest difficult, pain, the methods used for ventilation that prevent the patients from communicating adequately, etc. Furthermore, the patients generally develop a feeling of loss of self-control, the main needs described being the sensation of safety and "knowing what is happening". The experiences lived may continue to produce emotional alterations even months after hospital discharge, with the development of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This justifies a follow-up in order to detect them and treat them adequately. It seems to be appropriate for the treatment of these patients to be multidisciplinary, attending to both the physical needs related with the disease as well as the psychological ones.

Alteraciones emocionales y necesidades psicológicas de pacientes en una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos / Emotional disorders and psychological needs of patients in an Intensive Care Unit

Desde el momento en que se diagnostica una enfermedad cuyo tratamiento va a requerir un ingreso hospitalario para la realización de una intervención quirúrgica, tanto el paciente como sus familiares o cuidadores primarios se ven implicados en un proceso durante el cual pueden experimentar diversas alteraciones emocionales. El objetivo de este trabajo se centra en la descripción de los diferentes problemas psicológicos y las necesidades manifestadas por los pacientes que precisan, como parte del proceso de tratamiento y control de la recuperación, ser ingresados en una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos (UCI). Durante su estancia en la UCI, las alteraciones emocionales citadas con mayor frecuencia por los pacientes son la ansiedad, el estrés, la depresión o el denominado síndrome de cuidados intensivos, en cuyo desarrollo se encuentran implicados factores como el ruido excesivo que puede dificultar el sueño y el descanso, el dolor, las medidas empleadas para la ventilación que impiden que los enfermos se puedan comunicar adecuadamente, etc. Además, los pacientes suelen desarrollar un sentimiento de falta de control de sí mismos, siendo las principales necesidades manifestadas la sensación de seguridad y «saber qué está pasando». Las vivencias experimentadas pueden continuar produciendo alteraciones emocionales incluso varios meses después del alta hospitalaria llegando a desarrollar un trastorno por estrés postraumático, lo que justifica un seguimiento con el objetivo de detectarlas y tratarlas adecuadamente. Parece adecuado que el tratamiento de estos pacientes sea multidisciplinario, atendiendo tanto las necesidades físicas relacionadas con la enfermedad, como las psicológicas

From the time when a disease whose treatment is going to require hospitalization for a surgical intervention is diagnosed, both the patient and his/her family members or primary caretakers are involved in a process that may involve the experience of several emotional alterations. This work focuses on the description of the different psychological problems and needs manifested by the patients who require, as part of the treatment process and recovery control, admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). During the patient's stay in the ICU, the emotional alterations mentioned most frequently by them are anxiety, stress, depression or the so-called intensive care syndrome, during which factors such as excessive noise that may make sleeping and rest difficult, pain, the methods used for ventilation that prevent the patients from communicating adequately, etc. Furthermore, the patients generally develop a feeling of loss of self-control, the main needs described being the sensation of safety and «knowing what is happening». The experiences lived may continue to produce emotional alterations even months after hospital discharge, with the development of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This justifies a follow-up in order to detect them and treat them adequately. It seems to be appropriate for the treatment of these patients to be multidisciplinary, attending to both the physical needs related with the disease as well as the psychological ones

Experiencia de los familiares de pacientes críticos ingresados en una unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI) / No disponible

No disponible