Ventilator-Supported Communication: A Case Study of Patient and Staff Experiences

Summary, in English

Communicative abilities and opportunities are affected by ventilator care. The purpose of this case study was to investigate both a nurse's and a ventilator-supported patient's experiences of communication during ventilator care, with the overall aim of contributing to increased knowledge and awareness of issues related to communication with a ventilator-supported patient. An explorative/descriptive embedded single-case study design was applied, and a qualitative approach guided data collection and analysis. Initially, field observations were carried out in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting, and led to the development of the case (ventilator-supported communication) and the units of analysis. This was followed by semistructured interviews with the participants: an individual receiving home mechanical ventilation (HMV) and a nurse from an ICU setting. Interviews were analyzed according to thematic content analysis. Five main categories emerged from the analysis: (1) to understand and to make oneself understood is important, (2) allowing communication to take time, (3) it takes practice to learn how to speak on a ventilator, (4) different situations require different communicative strategies and (5) knowing a person facilitates communication. The findings are discussed in relation to communicative participation, and suggestions for future research are given.

• Author: Katja Laakso; Lena Hartelius; Markus Idvall
• Department/s: Department of Health Sciences; Division of Ethnology
• Publishing year: 2009
• Language: English
• Pages: 153-164
• Publication/Series: Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 4
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning
• Topic: Nursing
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1065-1438