Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 163, Number 1, January 2001, 135-139

Meeting the Needs of Intensive Care Unit Patient Families
A Multicenter Study

ELIE AZOULAY, FRÉDÉRIC POCHARD, SYLVIE CHEVRET, FRANÇOIS LEMAIRE, MUSTAFA MOKHTARI, JEAN-ROGER LE GALL, JEAN FRANÇOIS DHAINAUT, and BENOÎT SCHLEMMER, for the French FAMIREA Group

Intensive Care and Biostatistics Departments of the Saint-Louis Teaching Hospital and Paris 7 University, Paris, France; Intensive Care Unit of the Cochin Teaching Hospital, Paris, France; Intensive Care Unit of the Henri Mondor Teaching Hospital, Créteil, France; and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Saint Vincent de Paul Hospital, Paris, France

Intensive care unit (ICU) caregivers should seek to develop collaborative relationships with their patients' family members, based on an open exchange of information and aimed at helping family members cope with their distress and allowing them to speak for the patient if necessary. We conducted a prospective multicenter study of family member satisfaction evaluated using the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory. Forty-three French ICUs participated in the study. ICU characteristics, patient and family member demographics, and data on satisfaction were collected. Factors associated with satisfaction were identified using a Poisson regression model. A total of 637 patients were included in the study, and 920 family members completed the questionnaire. Seven predictors of family satisfaction were found: one family-related factor, namely, family of French descent and six caregiver-related factors, namely, no perceived contradictions in information given by caregivers; information provided by a junior physician; patient to nurse ratio  3; knowledge of the specific role of each caregiver; help from the family's own doctor; and sufficient time spent giving information. Predictors of satisfaction are amenable to intervention and deserve to be investigated further with the goal of improving the satisfaction of ICU patients' family members.

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