Evaluation of environmental stressor factors experienced by patients treated in intensive care unit

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the stressor factors experienced by the patients who were treated in the intensive care unit and to evaluate the degree of stressor factors affecting the patients. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 81 patients who hospitalized in the level 2-3 of intensive care units which in two private hospitals (Surgical and Coronary Intensive Care Unit) and General Intensize Care Unit at European Side of İstanbul between 17.12.2018-15.02.2019. In this search, data was collected by using the "Patient Information Form" which developed by the researcher and using "Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressors Scale". IBM SPSS Statistics 21 package program was used to analyze the data. In addition to the descriptive statistics such as frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation and percentage, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used for the difference analysis and Spearman's correlation analysis was used for relationship analysis. Results: When the mean scores of the patients in the Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressors Scales were examined, according to patients the matter that affected them mostly was "Missing your partner" and the matter that never affected them was "Frequent physical examination by doctors and nurses". When stress scale scores were examined according to their profession status and smoking status; self-employed people were found to be higher than workers and smokers had higher ratings than non-smokers. Conclusion: In the intensive care units, which are of the most perceived places of environmental stressors, stress factors should be determined by the health care workers, and in order to decrease the stress level, it is recommended to approach to patient with a holistic attitude. Keywords: Intensive care, intensive care unit, stress ,stressor, nursing.