Family satisfaction with critical care: measurements and messages
- 1 December 2010
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Current Opinion in Critical Care
- Vol. 16 (6), 623-631
- https://doi.org/10.1097/mcc.0b013e32833e9718
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Family satisfaction in the ICU reflects the extent to which perceived needs and expectations of family members of critically ill patients are met by healthcare professionals. Here, we present recently developed tools to assess family satisfaction, with a special focus on their psychometric properties. Assessing family satisfaction, however, is not of much use if it is not followed by interpretation of the results and, if needed, consecutive measures to improve care of the patients and their families, or improvement in communication and decision-making. Accordingly, this review will outline recent findings in this field. Finally, possible areas of future research are addressed. RECENT FINDINGS: To assess family satisfaction in the ICU, several domains deserve attention. They include, among others, care of the patient, counseling and emotional support of family members, information and decision-making. Overall, communication between physicians or nurses and members of the family remains a key topic, and there are many opportunities to improve. They include not only communication style, timing and appropriate wording but also, for example, assessments to see if information was adequately received and also understood. Whether unfulfilled needs of individual members of the family or of the family as a social system result in negative long-term sequels remains an open question. SUMMARY: Assessing and analyzing family satisfaction in the ICU ultimately will support healthcare professionals in their continuing effort to improve care of critically ill patients and their familiesKeywords
This publication has 65 references indexed in Scilit:
- “It’s not just what the doctor tells me:” Factors that influence surrogate decision-makers’ perceptions of prognosis*Critical Care Medicine, 2010
- Intensive care unit safety culture and outcomes: a US multicenter studyInternational Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2010
- Expanding the paradigm of the physicianʼs role in surrogate decision-making: An empirically derived framework*Critical Care Medicine, 2010
- Improving Social Work in Intensive Care Unit Palliative Care: Results of a Quality Improvement InterventionJournal of Palliative Medicine, 2010
- The intensive care unit family meeting: Making it happenJournal of Critical Care, 2009
- Families with limited English proficiency receive less information and support in interpreted intensive care unit family conferences*Critical Care Medicine, 2009
- Posttraumatic Stress and Complicated Grief in Family Members of Patients in the Intensive Care UnitJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2008
- Doubt and belief in physicians’ ability to prognosticate during critical illness: The perspective of surrogate decision makersCritical Care Medicine, 2008
- The PHQ-9Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2001
- STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ASSESSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN TWO METHODS OF CLINICAL MEASUREMENTThe Lancet, 1986