Absent Visitors: The Wider Implications of COVID-19 on Non-COVID Cardiothoracic ICU Patients, Relatives and Staff

Patients are part of a family network. When any person in a family becomes critically unwell and requires the assistance of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), this has an impact on all members of that family. COVID-19 changed visiting for all patients in hospitals across Scotland. It is not known what effect these restrictions will have on patients' recovery, nor do we understand the impact it may have on their relatives or staff caring for them. This study will look at the implications of the visiting restrictions as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic upon patients without COVID-19 who are in the cardiothoracic ICU. It will also explore the impact of these restrictions on them, their relatives and staff. This study will be carried out within a single specialised intensive care unit in Scotland using mixed methods. The first arm of this study will use retrospective data that is routinely collected in normal clinical practice. The investigators will compare patient outcomes prior to COVID-19 with outcomes following the implementation of COVID-19 visiting restrictions. The aim is to establish if the restrictions on visiting has an impact on the duration of delirium. Delirium is an acute mental confusion and is associated with longer hospital stays and worse outcomes in this patient group. The second arm of this study involves semi-structured interviews with patients, relatives and staff that will allow deeper exploration of the issues around current visiting policy. The interviews will last approximately 1 hour and will address these issues. They will then be transcribed word for word and analysed using grounded theory, meaning the theories will develop from the data as it is analysed.