Investigation of environmental stressors in the intensive care unit of patients with open heart surgery and factors affecting their experience in intensive care

Objective: This study was carried out as a descriptive and cross-sectional study to examine the environmental stressors in the intensive care unit and the factors affecting the intensive care experience of patients with open heart surgery. Method: The sample of the study consisted of patients who had undergone open heart surgery and participated in the study voluntarily (n=200). 'Patient Information Form', 'Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressors Scale' and 'Intensive Care Experiences' scales, which include the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients, were used to collect the research data. The patients hospitalized in the cardiovascular surgery and cardiology service of Istanbul SBU Mehmet Akif Ersoy Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital between January 2022 and May 2022 were included as the population. 200 patients who had undergone open heart surgery, were followed up in the intensive care unit for at least 24 hours, were hospitalized in the cardiovascular and cardiology service and volunteered for the study were included in the study. The obtained data were analyzed using the SPPS 21.0 program. Results: The mean age of the patients was 61,480±10,647. Considering the distribution of patients by gender; 138 (69.0%) were male. The majority of the patients were literate and primary school graduates. According to marital status, 170 (85.0%) of the patients were married and most of them were retired. 117 (58.5%) of the patients have chronic diseases. 121 (60.5%) of the patients stated that they had not been hospitalized in the intensive care unit before. Most of them had CABG and planned operation. The majority received information and did not visit the intensive care unit of their patients. As a result of the study, the mean of 'environmental stressors total' was 101,640±22.658, and the mean of 'total intensive care experience' was 60,400±9,023. Environmental stressors total scores of women (x=107,145) were found to be higher than men. In addition, it was concluded that the stress source of the patients in the intensive care unit was missing their spouse and not being able to see them, inability to move due to serum sets, pain, and not being able to sleep. It was concluded that intensive care experience scores, occupation, surgery and whether the procedure was planned or not, whether to receive information and not seeing their relatives affected intensive care experiences. Conclusion: As a result of the study findings, the intensive care environmental stressor and intensive care experience scores of the patients were found to be high. Patients are faced with too many stressors in the intensive care unit and are adversely affected by it. In addition, it was concluded that the patients remember their experiences in the intensive care unit and were satisfied with the care and treatment and had positive experiences.