The perspective of families of the critically ill patient: their needs
- 1 December 2006
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Current Opinion in Critical Care
- Vol. 12 (6), 614-618
- https://doi.org/10.1097/mcc.0b013e328010c7ef
Abstract
An appreciation of a family's difficult experience in dealing with their critically ill loved ones has created the concept of 'family-centered care'. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the needs of the family during their intensive care unit experience. Families consistently highlight three major issues that they deem could be improved from their perspective. Increased information about their loved ones, proximity to the patient and a more flexible visiting policy stand out as relevant issues to families. Medical staff and administrators should recognize that families of critically ill patients have particular needs that help them cope with having their loved ones in an intensive care unit. Simple changes in philosophy and policy would greatly decrease the anxiety these families experience.Keywords
This publication has 53 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reduced Cardiocirculatory Complications With Unrestrictive Visiting Policy in an Intensive Care UnitCirculation, 2006
- Effects of a needs-based education programme for family carers with a relative in an intensive care unit: A quasi-experimental studyInternational Journal of Nursing Studies, 2006
- Stress-inducing factors in ICUs: What liver transplant recipients experience and what caregivers perceiveLiver Transplantation, 2005
- Expressions of Nonabandonment During the Intensive Care Unit Family ConferenceJournal of Palliative Medicine, 2005
- Comparing Norwegian nurses’ and physicians’ perceptions of the needs of significant others in Intensive Care UnitsJournal of Clinical Nursing, 2005
- Agreement among family members in their assessment of the Quality of Dying and DeathJournal of Pain and Symptom Management, 2004
- Helping at the bedside: Spouses' preferences for helping critically ill patientsResearch in Nursing & Health, 2004
- Experiences of Families in the Neurological ICUJournal of Neuroscience Nursing, 2004
- The perceived needs of Jordanian families of hospitalized, critically ill patientsInternational Journal of Nursing Practice, 2004
- A Measure of the Quality of Dying and DeathJournal of Pain and Symptom Management, 2002