Feelings of family towards the living-dying confrontation of the family member in ICU

Abstract

Objective: To identify the main needs of families facing a situation of separation from the family member for high complexity care needs; and to know the resilience ability of families during the hospitalization phase of one of its members in health deviation in an ICU. Method: It was a qualitative research, with descriptive and exploratory nature. The subjects were seven individuals from five distinct families, of both sexes, who gave consent to participate on the study. Results: Some families described feelings of hope, faith and expectation in the recovery of their family member. They attribute such feelings to the complexity of the intensivist environment, equipped with technological apparatus, but give to God the responsibility of bringing to the relational-familiar environment the hospitalized subsystem. Conclusions: Raising awareness towards the needs of these families requires from the professional, compassion, delivery, approximation to the family suffering, nursing staff should know their pain and suffering, revealing the essence of human existence wrapped in the care process