Acute Mental Injury in ICU Nurses

Abstract

Nurses in the intensive care unit (ICU) are subject to extreme conditions of patient care. When that patient care does not progress as projected, they can suffer feelings of anger, nightmares, insomnia, sadness guilt, anxiety, flashbacks, and withdrawal from co-workers and family members. This project holds as it is conceptual framework of Dr. Martha Newman’s theory of Health as an Expanding Consciousness, as such, illness is seen as an imbalance and wellness is the restoration of balance. This project draws parallels between nurses’ feelings of grief and coping in the presence of traumatic events and untimely deaths in the ICU. This is done through a qualitative, descriptive, and open-ended interview study; as well as through a quantitative, demographic, and professional characteristic written survey This project is a replication of Dr. Michelle Sato’s 2015 project Nursing Experiences of Grief and Coping in the ICU. This project has shown that when positive coping mechanisms are in place, nurses are less likely to show symptoms of mental injury.