To help patients understand more about their illness and Intensive Care stay we use Patient Diaries.
A diary of events has been shown to reduce stress in patients after they are discharged from the unit. The nursing staff will make entries into an electronic diary, to explain why they were admitted to Intensive Care, and what has been happening to them while they have been induced in a coma and beyond.
This will then be printed and presented to them on discharge or within follow up. We encourage family and friends to keep their own diaries also. This is to help “fill the gaps” and personalise it for them.
What to write
How they are progressing, what has happened them to them that day, family news and events, birthdays, enquiries from friends, local and international news, football scores, music. Anything you think they would be interested in and will help them piece together the puzzle. Some relatives even like to send a daily text message to their patient to read when they can use their phone.
Diary photos
We ask the hospital medical photographer to visit the unit and take a photograph of our sedated patients. Evidence has shown that patients benefit from seeing a photograph of themselves, as they often have no comprehension of how ill they have been and therefore have unrealistic expectations of the time it will take to recover.
The photograph is only given to the patient when they are recovered and if they wish to see it. This can be upsetting for the patient and loved one but we are there to support you. If the patient does not want to see the photograph it is destroyed.