The patients participating in this study found meaning from the critical care experience in the ICU by realising that the experience was: ‘a wake-up call’, ‘it was the longest days of my life,’ and, ‘I am thankful to be alive’.
Descriptor 1: ‘A wake-up call’
The patients in this study perceived that the critical care experience was for them a ‘wake-up call’. OneHispanic patient who was admitted for emphysema, asthma, respiratory failure and poly-substance abuse, reflected on his experience in the ICU as he stated: Being in the ICU with the ‘tube’ but I was awake, I feel like I’m ‘messed-up’ because of what
I did. I used drugs that I got ‘messed-up’. They told me that I almost died. I know that it was not from my emphysema or asthma but because of the drugs. I was partying and having fun! After being in ICU again after many times of being there, thank God I feel much better now. I realised now not to take life for granted and that I was thinking,meaning that I should behave.‘Behave Richard’ I said to myself.