The Lived Experience of Critically Ill Patients in Isolation Rooms: Surviving Isolation

Background: Critically ill patients with infectious diseases have dramatically increased in prevalence over the last few years. Patients are allocated to stay in isolation settings under strict protocols and policies to prevent the transmission of infections to others, and thus suffered physically, psychologically and socially. Studies focusing on the meaning of critically ill patients’ experiences in isolation settings, their concerns and needs, reactions, interactions and relationships with healthcare providers, psychological conditions, and satisfaction with care while in isolation are lacking in the Arab world.

Aim: The purposes of this study were to explore critically ill patients’ perceptions of experiences related to staying in isolation rooms under isolation precautions, and to understand their feelings of concern, fears, and needs.

Design: A descriptive phenomenological inquiry.

Settings and Participants: This study was conducted in one hospital in Amman. A purposive sample of 10 critically ill patients who had spent at least 72 hours in the isolation setting in critical care unit because of suspected/ confirmed infectious disease was selected.

Results: The overall experiences of isolation were viewed as a negative one, and the essence of these experiences was surviving isolation. Patients’ perceptions, feelings, needs and concerns of isolation experiences were pointed out into four major domains, that are: lived relation, lived body, lived space, and lived time. The major themes were identified and explicated from patients’ transcribed interviews. The five main themes were, “the alienation of isolation”, “deprived of patient’s rights”, “distressed by the healthcare providers’ attitudes and behaviors”, “accepting isolation with its adversity”, and “learning lessons from isolation experience”.

Conclusion: Awareness of these findings could reform understanding of critically ill patients’ experiences in isolation settings, and raise the consciousness of healthcare providers for understanding the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of suffering, and develop policies that can inform healthcare providers’ practice, education, and research initiatives in Jordan and internationally.