Monday, 22 October 2007
ICU patients
I have just completed my last prac in ICU. Over the four weeks, i saw a huge variety of patients-all very sick and most of the time, difficult to see. I found myself sometimes getting quite upset seeing these type of patients, especially the young head injured/spinal injured patients who are essentially the same age as you. It was hard not to get upset as from all our studies at uni of anatomy/neuro, we have the knowledge of what is happening to them and have some idea of their prognosis, which a lot of the time, was not good. From having a particular couple of patients the whole time throughout my placement, it was hard not to somehow get attached to them and their families. The patients left ICU as soon as they were medically stable but it was hard not being able to follow them through and see their progress, seeing as you have formed somewhat of a relationship with them over time. From completing this placement, I realised it gave me good perspective of what a patient looks like/deals with within an acute stage and how they are when heading into rehab (though i would have liked to see some of my patients within the rehab stage) Anyone have any thoughts about this?
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3 comments:
Hi hol.
I found the same thing during my ICU prac. I really struggled with not being able to follow through with the patients and see them enter the rehab phase. I thought it would have been really interesting to see the progression from some an acute stage to regaining some function. I sometimes spoke to other students and physiotherapists on the wards the pts were moved to, to find out how they were doing. It's hard not to get attatched to these patients that you see in such a vunerable state and then have no continuity to find out how they are going.
hi holly,
even though i havnt had an icu prac i have had other placements in acute areas and have to agree with you... seeing patients acutely and helping them with the start of their recovery makes you interested in how they are continuing to progress. all i can say is its great that you and lots of other physios show compassion and are able to become attatched to patients - cos their are probably others who dont care at all about their patients even when they are under their care!
i found the same case on a few of my acute pracs. Especially when you are seeing patients twice a day and chatting to them about their life it is hard not to get attached- with some others though it is easy NOT to get attached though! i have found though that only a few patients have really stuck out in my mind which i think is fine- cause you only think of them when a similar patient presents to you.
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