Patient and family engagement in the ICU: Report from the task force of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine

Ruth Kleinpell; Daren K Heyland; Jeffrey Lipman; Charles L Sprung; Mitchell Levy; Mervyn Mer; Younsuck Koh; Judy Davidson; Ahmed Taha; J Randall Curtis; Council of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine

doi:10.1016/j.jcrc.2018.09.006

Patient and family engagement in the ICU: Report from the task force of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine

J Crit Care. 2018 Dec:48:251-256. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2018.09.006. Epub 2018 Sep 8.

Affiliations

¹ Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville, TN, USA. Electronic address: ruth.kleinpell@vanderbilt.edu.
² Department of Critical Care Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
³ Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital, The University of Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
⁵ Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Divisions of Critical Care and Pulmonology, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Republic of Korea.
⁸ University of California San Diego Health, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁹ Critical Care Department, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁰ Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

PMID: 30245366
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2018.09.006

Abstract

Purpose: Patient and family engagement plays an important role in the intensive care unit (ICU), however the degree to which practices are being implemented globally is not known.

Materials: To provide insights, a task force of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine conducted a cross-sectional survey.

Results: A total of 345 responses were received from 40 countries. Varying practices with respect to patient and family engagement were reported. Majority of those responding to individual survey questions (n=109, 61.2%) provided written materials on the ICU to family members. Just over half (n=184, 53.8%) of respondents identified that structured patient and family care conferences were held to review goals of care. Practices such as open visitation were reported by 39.6% (n=136), and family presence during resuscitation were reported to be fully (12%, n=41) or somewhat adopted (33%, n=113) by less than half of respondents. ICU diaries, music or pet therapy, or the use of a patient and family advisory group were reported by less than half of respondents.

Conclusions: We document and hence provide successful implementation techniques, tactics, and strategies that could help clinicians to address barriers to implementing patient and family engagement in the ICU.

Keywords: Critical care; Heathcare delivery; Intensive care; Patient and family centered care; Patient and family engagement.

MeSH terms

Advisory Committees*
Critical Care* / standards
Cross-Sectional Studies
Family / psychology*
Humans
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Professional-Family Relations
Societies, Medical