Clinical PotpourriCare and caring in the intensive care unit: Family members' distress and perceptions about staff skills, communication, and emotional support
Section snippets
Participants
The study was approved by the institutional review panel for the protection of human subjects, and written informed consent was obtained from participants. Participants were 29 spouses or first-degree relatives of severely injured patients treated at a level 1 trauma center and admitted to a surgical ICU. All participants reported experiencing subjective distress in response to the event. Study participation was restricted to 1 family member per patient.
Measures
Family members completed the Family
Results
The average age of participants was 48 (median, 48.5), and 23 (79%) were female. Twenty-one (72.4%) participants identified themselves as white, 7 (24.1%) identified as Hispanic, and 1 (4%) as Asian. Median years of education was 15; 9 (31.0%) participants had a college degree, followed by 9 (31.0%) with some college, 5 (17.2%) with post baccalaureate education, 5 (17.2%) with a high school diploma, and 1 (3.4%) with less than a high school diploma. Nine (31.0%) participants were the patient's
Discussion
The family members we studied generally expressed high satisfaction with the care provided in the ICU, but relatively lower ratings were given for communication, information, and emotional support among 17% to 20% of participants. Staff competence and skills were most highly rated and were significantly higher than ratings of overall satisfaction, frequency of communication with doctors and nurses, information needs being met, and emotional support. Consistent with prior research [10], [18],
Acknowledgments
This study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant MH 69876 awarded to Eve B. Carlson. We wish to thank Abbey Tillery, Marianne Kabour, Rob Wheeler, Donn Garvert, Luma Muhtadie, and Lori Holleran for their work on the research and all of the research participants who generously contributed their time and effort to benefit others.
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Family experiences and perceptions of intensive care unit care and communication during the COVID-19 pandemic
2023, Australian Critical CareCitation Excerpt :Visiting restrictions have kept families and patients apart, causing additional trauma to many.4 Psychological consequences for patients and families resulting from critical illness and ICU admission have been the subject of considerable previous research.5–14 The attendance and inclusion of family members in the ICU has been identified as an important factor in providing patient- and family-centred care,15–17 decreasing the risk of delirium,18,19 and improving patient psychological recovery.19
Factors associated with family satisfaction in the adult intensive care unit: A literature review
2022, Australian Critical CareCitation Excerpt :Next, most of the family member–related factors found in this review are nonmodifiable. Future studies could explore factors that are amenable to be modified (or manageable) in both, family members and healthcare providers, such as psychological distress symptoms,24,25,35,36 social support,23 or optimism35 which were explored mostly on low-quality studies. This review has limitations.
Satisfaction of patients and family caregivers in adult intensive care units: Literature Review
2021, Enfermeria Intensiva