Ward visits- one essential step in intensive care follow-up. An interview study with critical care nurses' and ward nurses'.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe critical care nurses' and ward nurses' perceptions of the benefits and challenges with a nurse-led follow-up service for intensive care-survivors at general wards. BACKGROUND: Patients recently transferred from intensive care to the general ward are still vulnerable and require complex care. There are different models of intensive care follow-up services and some include ward visits after transfer from intensive care. Research methodology/design: This study had a qualitative design. Data from 13 semi-structured interviews with Swedish critical care nurses and ward nurses were analysed using qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: The findings consisted of one theme, namely, "Being a part of an intra-organisational collaboration for improved quality of care", and four subthemes: "Provides additional care for the vulnerable patients, "Strengthens ward-based critical care", "Requires coordination and information", and "Creates an exchange of knowledge". The nurse-led follow-up service detected signs of deterioration and led to better quality of care. However, shortage of time, lack of interaction, feedback and information about the function of the follow-up service led to problems. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that ward visits should be included in the intensive care follow-up service. Furthermore, intra-organisational collaboration seems to be essential for intensive care survivors' quality of care.