How was established frontline practices in the COVID19 pandemic when the health system is on the verge of collapse

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K23202
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0908:Society medicine, nursing, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2021-2022); Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine (2020)
• Principal Investigator: Noguchi Ayako 東京医科歯科大学, 大学院保健衛生学研究科, 助教 (20871594)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: ICU / パンデミック / クリティカルケア / 医療者の経験 / 患者の経験 / 実践

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The study used ethnographic methods to examine what happened in frontline intensive care units during a pandemic on the verge of medical collapse, what medical staff and patient families experienced and how they realised their practices. A detailed survey was carried out that could describe the nature of intensive care, care practices and the structure of interdisciplinary collaboration in emergencies, providing a multifaceted perspective. It was also found that patients who became critically ill in the COVID-19 ICU at the beginning of the pandemic and were fitted with ventilators felt alienated due to their anxiety and conflicts in the ICU, especially due to the use of personal protective equipment, which prevented personal interpersonal interaction with medical staff. As a result, detailed and informative descriptions of their experiences of seeking familiar relationships were provided.

Free Research Field

クリティカルケア看護学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は、今後起こりうる新興感染症のパンデミックの危機に備え、現場に必要な準備性やその際の医療者の負担軽減を検討することに役立つ。世界で、また日本国内においても医療水準や背景、施設の特徴や文化が異なる中、どのような状況下で何が起こり、どのような経験につながるのか、構造化して記述した成果は、当事者となった最前線の医療者自身が未曾有の経験を自己理解することを可能にする。さらには他者もその経験を理解することを可能にする。くわえて、パンデミックの渦中から実践を記述した実践誌として学術的な知の集積に寄与する。