Objective: To determine whether patient- and family-centered care interventions in the ICU improve outcomes.
Data sources: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library databases from inception until December 1, 2016.
Study selection: We included articles involving patient- and family-centered care interventions and quantitative, patient- and family-important outcomes in adult ICUs.
Data extraction: We extracted the author, year of publication, study design, population, setting, primary domain investigated, intervention, and outcomes.
Data synthesis: There were 46 studies (35 observational pre/post, 11 randomized) included in the analysis. Seventy-eight percent of studies (n = 36) reported one or more positive outcome measures, whereas 22% of studies (n = 10) reported no significant changes in outcome measures. Random-effects meta-analysis of the highest quality randomized studies showed no significant difference in mortality (n = 5 studies; odds ratio = 1.07; 95% CI, 0.95-1.21; p = 0.27; I = 0%), but there was a mean decrease in ICU length of stay by 1.21 days (n = 3 studies; 95% CI, -2.25 to -0.16; p = 0.02; I = 26%). Improvements in ICU costs, family satisfaction, patient experience, medical goal achievement, and patient and family mental health outcomes were also observed with intervention; however, reported outcomes were heterogeneous precluding formal meta-analysis.
Conclusions: Patient- and family-centered care-focused interventions resulted in decreased ICU length of stay but not mortality. A wide range of interventions were also associated with improvements in many patient- and family-important outcomes. Additional high-quality interventional studies are needed to further evaluate the effectiveness of patient- and family-centered care in the intensive care setting.