Abstract

STANISCIA, Ana Carolina M. et al. Emotional distress faced by adult intensive care unit physicians of a private general hospital. Rev. SBPH [online]. 2011, vol.14, n.1, pp. 41-73. ISSN 1516-0858.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a stressful environment in the subjective consequences generated by its own logic of creation and functioning within the general hospital, where emergencies are transformed into routine. During the period of employment or post-shift, doctors generally have physical symptoms. In addition to that doctors who face difficulties presented by the ICU setting may suffer negative psychological reactions, thus impairing its ultimate objective: to provide proper assistance to patients. Objective: To identify the emotional distress experienced by physicians in Adult ICU at a general hospital. Method: Individual and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 physicians in adult ICU. The analysis followed the method of discourse analysis, proposed by Minayo (2002). Results: From the results we can observe that among the emotional difficulties reported by physicians are: excessive responsibilities, difficulties in accepting the death, and difficulties in dealing with patients and relatives. Conclusion: The importance of interpersonal abilities during the training of health professionals should be valued since professional medical practice is facing an inevitable aspect, which is the emotional. In the present context it is perceived difficulty of the study population into submitting to their own care and the possibility of a psychological intervention.

Keywords : Emotional distress; Adult ICU; Doctors.

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