Listening to music may relax mechanically ventilated patients, but there are limitations to the quality of the available evidence

• Context: The intensive care unit (ICU) environment is a strange place with its noises, equipment, constant activity and bright lights. The demands of critically ill patients in this environment often keep the care providers from recognising the hostility of the environment from the patient's perspective. Patients are often scared, confused and uncomfortable, and the ICU environment does little to provide comfort. Enhancing comfort leads to increased perceptions of well-being and decreased perception of stress.1 The majority of ICU patients are mechanically ventilated. Mechanical ventilation often causes major distress and anxiety in patients, putting them at greater risk for complications. Side effects of analgesia and sedation may lead to the prolongation of mechanical ventilation and, subsequently, to a longer length of hospitalisation 

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Anestesi och intensivvård (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Anesthesiology and Intensive Care (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

mechanically ventilated patients

ICU

intensive care unit

stress

Nursing Science

Vårdvetenskap

Anestesiologi

Anaesthesiology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)