Significance of Bedside Photographs for ICU Nurses

Abstract

This study examines what significance bedside photographs have for ICU nurses in order to obtain suggestive findings concerning using such photographs more effectively in nursing intervention. Nurses with experience caring for critically ill patients who have photographs at their bedsides were interviewed with semi-structured interviews. For analyzing their responses, the modified Grounded Theory Approach was used as a reference. From the results, five aspects of significance that such photographs have for nurses were extracted. The aspects were views about photographs affected by individual backgrounds and hospital ward culture, views shifting towards paying more attention to the experience itself of patients whose lives are being threatened, thoughts for considering and respecting complicated effects, photographs acting as a catalyst for nursing actions that respect patients as living persons, and mixed feelings caused by photographs. For ICU nurses, bedside photographs change their views on patients, helping them to achieve patient-centered care through establishing partnerships with patient families. Bedside photographs can be double-edged swords; they have both benefits and disadvantages. The results suggest that being aware that photograph significance differs depending on family crisis levels and family systems and that using photographs carefully are important.