COVID-۱۹ as a Humanistic Care Facilitator in Intensive Care Unit: A Technical Action Study

Aims: The qualities of nursing care and factors affecting it have always been a challenge in health care systems. Humanistic care is an approach in care delivery in the nursing profession. Participation of different parts, including patients, their families, and nurses, improves care satisfaction. This study aimed to promote humanistic care in an intensive care setting using technical action research. Methods: This study was conducted as Technical Action Research based on the “unsparing response to situation” Model. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews, and field notes through purposive sampling were performed with quantitative and qualitative methods during four steps in the intensive care unit of Booali Sina Hospital from ۲۰۱۸ to ۲۰۲۰. Findings: After four months of program implementation and changes due to the COVID-۱۹ crisis in the final evaluation phase, data collection reflected "understanding of patient and family needs and concerns, empathy by nurses, mutual satisfactionˮ, "non-discrimination and replacement of ethical reasoning on the personal judgment”, “birth and germination of humanistic careˮ and "growing satisfaction from humanistic careˮ. Also, increasing the score of quality of nursing care, quality of work-life and Caring Nurse-Patient/Family Interactions after interventions indicated the promotion of humanistic care in the intensive care unit. Conclusion: Humanistic values are intrinsic; they can be exteriorized in special sensitive circumstances and “education and learning professional values” and are not necessarily acquired. Covid-۱۹ has acted as a facilitator, accelerating the conversion of non-humanistic to humanistic care. Knowing this, managers should properly understand and analyze the intervening variables based on the proposed care model, i.e., the “existence of care promotion elements” and “sensitivity of situations”.

Keywords:

COVID-۱۹ , Intensive Care Unit , Nursing , Qualitative Research