title: [Hospitalization in an intensive care unit: how patients perceive it].
abstract: This qualitative study aims to understand how adult patients experience hospitalization in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), thus contributing to the improvement of care and a better adaptation to such a stigmatized environment. The data were collected in an ICU of a hospital in the southwest of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Ten patients were interviewed. Three themes related to the previous perception of the ICU were identified: difference to the assistance in inpatient units; technology and expert assistance; environmental and behavioral changes in the ICU. In the beginning, informants related the ICU to the terminally ill, but they began to view the unit as a place for treatment and recovery, thereby acquiring a positive view of its environment.
authors: Prefeitura Municipal de Itaberá, São Paulo, Brasil. micheleproenca@hotmail.com
authors: Michele de Oliveira
authors: Mde O
authors: Proença
authors: Cátia Millene
authors: CM
authors: Dell Agnolo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D001938:Brazil; D003469:Culture; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult