Determinants of Communication Failure in Intubated Critically Ill Patients: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study from the Perspective of Critical Care Nurses

Aim: To explore what factors determine communication with awake intubated critically ill patients from the point of view of critical care nursing professionals. Background: Impaired communication frequently affects mechanically ventilated patients with artificial airways in the intensive care unit. Consequences of communication breaches comprise emotional and ethical aspects as well as clinical safety, affecting both patients and their conversation partners. Identification of determining factors in communication with awake intubated patients is needed to design effective action strategies. Design: A qualitative phenomenological approach was used. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection method. A total of 11 participants from three intensive care units of three Majorcan public hospitals, selected by purposive sampling, were interviewed. Findings: Three major themes regarding the communication determinants of the awake intubated critically ill patients were identified from the interviewees’ statements: factors related to the patient (physical and cognitive functionality to communicate, their relational and communicative style and their personal circumstances), to the context (family presence, ICU characteristics, workload, availability/adequacy of communication aids, features of the messages and communication situations) and, finally, those related to the professionals themselves (professional experience and person-centredness). Conclusions: The present study reveals determinants that influence communication with the awake intubated patient, as there are attitudes and professional beliefs. Relevance to clinical practice: The discovery of relations between different kinds of determinants (of patient, context or professionals) provides a multi-factor perspective on the communicative problem which should be considered in the design of new approaches to improve communicative effectiveness. This study is reported according to the COREQ checklist.