Effect of Increasing the Visitation Time on Pain Parameters and Consciousness Level of Intensive Care Unit's Patients

One of the most important needs of hospitalized patients in intensive care units is patients visiting by their family members, but it is very limited in these units. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of increased visiting to patients’ time on pain and level of consciousness of hospitalized patients in intensive care units. In this clinical trial, 60 hospitalized patients in intensive care units of Vali-Asr Hospital in Arak City, Iran, in 2013-2014 were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. Each visiting was done for 10 minutes, 3 times a day (9- and 12am and 15pm) in the intervention group and for 10 minutes once a day (15pm) in the control group. Then patients’ pain and level of consciousness was measured before, during, and after 10 and 30 minutes of visiting by family. Data was analyzed in SPSS 20 software using Chi-square, paired T, independent T, and repeated measure ANOVA tests. There was no significant difference between pain and level of consciousness between 2 groups before intervention (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between the means of pain and level of consciousness before and 30min after the visiting at 15pm in control group (p>0.05). There were significant differences between the means of pain before and 30min after visiting at 9am, 12am and 15pm in intervention group (p<0.05), but no significant differences were seen in the level of consciousness (p>0.05). Increasing the time of visiting to patients decreases the pain of the hospitalized patients in intensive care units.