Determination of the views of nurses about the visits of relatives of patients in the intensive care unit

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the views of nurses about the visits of relatives of patients in the intensive care unit. Method: The research was conducted between the dates of 21.10.2016 and 31.10.2017 in 16 intensive care units in two public hospitals and one university hospital in Antalya Province. In this study, sampling method was not used and the whole universe was tried to be reached and the research was completed with 189 nurses. Data were collected by using face to face interview method with "Form Determination of Nurses' Views on Patient Visits in Intensive Care Unit" and evaluated with the help of SPSS 23.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) licensed software program. Results: In the research, it was determined that 46,6% of nurses were in the 30-39 age range, 83.1% of the nurses were women, 71.7% were married and 98.9% lived in the city center. It was found that 67.7% of the nurses had the opinion that visits should be on all days of the week including the weekend. 71.43% of the nurses participating in the study stated that children (under 12 years) were not eligible for patient visits. Although 84.10% of the nurses stated that the visiting hours in the ICU contributed to the patient's recovery process, 54% stated that the visiting hours disrupted the treatment and care process of the patients. Conclusion: The findings of the study showed that ICU nurses' opinions about visiting patients were quite positive, but they found the application of limited visiting hours more positive and that children (under 12 years) should not be accepted for the visit. It was determined that the nurses provided limited information to the patient families about the patient's condition. Key words: intensive care, patient visit, family centered care, intensive care nursing