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dc.contributor.authorMitchell, Marion L
dc.contributor.authorCourtney, Mary
dc.contributor.authorCoyer, Fiona
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T12:18:02Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T12:18:02Z
dc.date.issued2003
dc.date.modified2007-03-15T21:34:12Z
dc.identifier.issn1441-0745
dc.identifier.doi10.1046/j.1442-2018.2003.00155.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/6237
dc.description.abstractWhen general ward registered nurses (RN) receive patients from an intensive care unit (ICU) they report that much of their time in the initial phases revolves around meeting family needs (Farvis, 2002). Families experience anxiety when leaving the security of the close monitoring seen in ICU (Leith, 1999) and their anxiety reduces their ability to play a key role in the patient's recovery (McShane, 1991; Leske, 1992) as it can impair their decision-making (Cagan, 1988;Halm et al., 1993). By reducing a family's anxiety, they may be more able to cope with the necessary transition to a general ward and support the patient's recovery. A literature search from 1990 onwards was performed within the CINAHL, Medline and Cochrane databases using the key words: intensive care, family, General System Theory, uncertainty, anxiety and transfer. Further articles were retrieved from citation references from the Web of Science or through the reference lists of retrieved literature. Library catalogues were searched using the same key words for books and book chapters. von Bertalanffy's General System Theory provides a framework for understanding the importance of family in a critical illness situation. Critical illness permits little or no time to adapt, thus reducing the family's ability to cope with the situation. Transfer out of ICU is a significant anxiety-producing event for families. Uncertainty in illness is reported in other illness situations to reduce family's adaptation to illness events, but has not been researched with an ICU cohort of families. Seven out of the top 10 needs of ICU families are information needs, highlighting the importance of communication regarding progress and future plans. Nurses require an increased awareness that transfer anxiety exists for families and to be knowledgable about ways to reduce its occurrence. Research is required to evaluate the efficacy of interventions to reduce anxiety for families and examine the level of uncertainty in illness in this cohort.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherBlackwell Publishing Asia
dc.publisher.placeAustralia
dc.publisher.urihttp://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1442-2018.2003.00155.x
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom207
dc.relation.ispartofpageto217
dc.relation.ispartofjournalNursing and Health Sciences
dc.relation.ispartofvolume5
dc.subject.fieldofresearchNursing
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode4205
dc.titleUnderstanding uncertainty and minimising families' anxiety at the time of transfer from intensive care.
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.facultyGriffith Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery
gro.rights.copyright© 2003 Blackwell Publishing. The definitive version is available at [www.blackwell-synergy.com.]
gro.date.issued2003
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorMitchell, Marion L.


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