Vivências de cuidadores familiares de pacientes internados em uti na pandemia da Covid-19

Abstract

Recognizing the importance of the role of family support in the health care of hospitalized patients, attention centered on family caregivers has been increasing and being increasingly prioritized in the work carried out by the multidisciplinary team, especially in Intensive Care Units. What has been observed is that the phenomenon of illness can generate an intense process of suffering and emotional fragility for families who experience the act of care, as they are more vulnerable due to the impact and uncertainties of the crisis generated by the disease. Based on this, the objective of this work is to understand the experience lived by family caregivers in relation to the monitoring of patients admitted to a COVID-19 ICU, specifically: to understand the feelings of family caregivers related to monitoring within a Covid ICU; describe the sociodemographic and health characteristics of family caregivers of patients admitted to the Covid ICU; investigate the repercussions of the act of care on the family member's life during monitoring in the Covid ICU and identify the changes experienced in the family caregiver's life after discharge. This is a qualitative, descriptive study with a cross-sectional design. Family caregivers, over 18 years of age, who were carrying out their patient monitoring activities during the period from January to August 2021 in the Covid Intensive Care Unit of Hospital São Domingos, in São Luís/MA, participated in the research. For data collection, the following were used: Sociodemographic and Health Questionnaire containing items related to the sociodemographic profile, as well as health data and a Semi-structured Interview Guide containing three guiding questions about the experience during monitoring in order to identify themes related to the ICU , the role of caring and post-discharge. In category 1, interviewees highlight aspects relating to their view of the ICU and the procedures inherent to the environment, with the subcategories: impotence in the face of the need for intubation and fear of death. Category 2 deals with the relationship between the family member and the role of the caregiver, with the following subcategories: role of the caregiver, friendship with other companions, trust in the team, difficulties faced and faith and religion as strengthening resources. In category 3, which deals with the meaning attributed to the ICU after the experience of hospitalization in this sector, the following subcategories are: healing and recovery and care and reception.This research may assist in the attention to psychological assistance offered to family caregivers of patients admitted to the ICU, in addition to contributing to a better understanding of the role and importance of the family as a unit of care, resulting in a more qualified and more humanized health care practice. . Likewise, it can assist in the development of intervention strategies and systematization of these services by the multidisciplinary health team.