부산대학교 도서관

This study is a bibliographical review on critical patients in an intensive care unit. The idea was to examine the patient's point of view about the ICU. The period chosen was the last twenty years, that is, 1984 - 2003. The sources used were LILACS, BDENF, DEDALUS. This made it possible to build three categories after a careful reading of the abstracts and articles: Prejudice about the ICU, Living in the ICU, Positive and Negative Aspects, ICU - a learning, a return? These categories showed that the patients in ICUs talk about positive and negative aspects of the sector, focusing on the environmental stresses (premises, privacy), physical (pain), and psychological (rejection, depression, the fear of death and absence of the family), as well as differentiating factors for their recovery in the ICU (communication, faith and trust in the team). Another highlight is the nursing team that must review and rebuild its professional practice based on human care.