Carol's journey in critical care: An Enlighten Project case study

Abstract

Background: The Enlighten Project seeks to explore how awareness of the physical environment in critical care may impact patient well-being and recovery and whether simple changes may improve outcomes. Methods: In this study we follow the journey of a long stay critical care patient, recording her observations and memories of her experiences in different bed spaces of both an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and a High Dependency Unit (HDU) at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough. Results: Patient's account gave insight into the patient's eye view from various critical care bed spaces and how different positions across a unit can impact patient experience. Different bed positions and side rooms yielded different degrees of positive and negative responses, causing varying levels of comfort/discomfort and contentment/distress. Conclusions: Patient's eye view perspective strongly influenced Carols' experience in Critical care, and she displayed a positive attitude to personalised lighting, aesthetics, and levels of environmental and communication control, which were introduced to the her during the study.