Table 1 Questionnaire on ICU-related self-perceived discomforts (IPREA): the English version

1.

Have you experienced discomfort from noise (alarms, radios, telephones, conversations) during the day and/or night?

2.

Have you suffered from too much light in your ICU room or in the hallway, especially at night?

3.

Have you felt uncomfortable in your bed? (that is, is the mattress too hard or too soft, head of bed too high or not high enough, sides of bed to high or low, uncomfortable pillows?)

4.

Have you suffered from lack of sleep compared to your usual sleep pattern?

5.

Have you felt uncomfortable due to thirst?

6.

Have you felt uncomfortable due to hunger?

7.

Have you suffered from the cold?

8.

Have you suffered from the heat?

9.

Have you had more pain than usual for you? For example from needles, catheters, tubes, being turned or washed?

10.

Have you had discomfort from tubes/connections to machines (such as from IV lines, electrode connections, tubes in your throat, or oxygen mask?)

11.

Have you felt embarrassed or did you feel your privacy was not respected? (For example during the morning wash, changes, and review by the doctors or the medical visits?)

12.

Have you suffered from anxiety or panic (for example, being scared that an important piece of medical equipment may malfunction or disconnect?)

13.

Have you felt isolated (being alone in your room, sometimes not seeing nurses or doctors nearby) and not hearing any sounds?

14.

Did the ICU visiting hours (that is restricting when your family and/or friends could visit you) bother you?

15.

Have you been bothered by not having a telephone in the room?

16.

Did you feel you were not informed enough about such things as your condition, treatment plan, progress or when you would leave ICU?

17.

Did you at any time feel depressed during your stay in ICU?

18.

Did you have difficulty breathing, or feel that you were struggling for air during your ICU stay?