Psychosocial Needs of Relatives of Trauma Patients

Shared decision-making in the ICU from the perspective of physicians, nurses and patients: a qualitative interview study

OBJECTIVE

To identify views, experiences and needs for shared decision-making (SDM) in the intensive care unit (ICU) according to ICU physicians, ICU nurses and former ICU patients and their close family members.

DESIGN

Qualitative study.

SETTING

Two Dutch tertiary centres.

PARTICIPANTS

19 interviews were held with 29 participants: seven with ICU physicians from two tertiary centres, five with ICU nurses from one tertiary centre and nine with former ICU patients, of whom seven brought one or two of their close family members who had been involved in the ICU stay.

RESULTS

Three themes, encompassing a total of 16 categories, were identified pertaining to struggles of ICU physicians, needs of former ICU patients and their family members and the preferred role of ICU nurses. The main struggles ICU physicians encountered with SDM include uncertainty about long-term health outcomes, time constraints, feeling pressure because of having final responsibility and a fear of losing control. Former patients and family members mainly expressed aspects they missed, such as not feeling included in ICU treatment decisions and a lack of information about long-term outcomes and recovery. ICU nurses reported mainly opportunities to strengthen their role in incorporating non-medical information in the ICU decision-making process and as liaison between physicians and patients and family.

CONCLUSIONS

Interviewed stakeholders reported struggles, needs and an elucidation of their current and preferred role in the SDM process in the ICU. This study signals an essential need for more long-term outcome information, a more informal inclusion of patients and their family members in decision-making processes and a more substantial role for ICU nurses to integrate patients' values and needs in the decision-making process.

Interação do técnico em enfermagem com a família do paciente hospitalizado

Resumo Objetivo Analisar as interações observadas entre o técnico em enfermagem e a família do paciente hospitalizado, à luz dos pressupostos do Cuidado Centrado no Paciente e na Família e do Código de Ética dos Profissionais de Enfermagem. Métodos Estudo qualitativo, cujos referenciais teóricos foram os pressupostos do Cuidado Centrado no Paciente e na Família e o Código de Ética dos Profissionais de Enfermagem. Participaram nove técnicos em enfermagem das unidades de clínica médica de dois hospitais públicos do Estado de São Paulo. Os dados foram coletados por observação participante e analisados pela Análise Qualitativa de Conteúdo Convencional. Resultados As interações entre o técnico em enfermagem e os familiares foram limitadas no que se referiu à utilização dos pressupostos do Cuidado Centrado no Paciente e na Família e no cumprimento do que era preconizado pelo o Código de Ética dos Profissionais de Enfermagem, conforme revelaram as categorias: Não tratando os familiares com respeito e dignidade; Não compartilhando informação com os familiares; Não negociando a forma de participação e colaboração na prestação do cuidado. Conclusão É imprescindível a incorporação dos pressupostos do Cuidado Centrado no Paciente e na Família e de aspectos éticos relacionados à família preconizados pelo Código de Ética dos Profissionais de Enfermagem na formação e na vivência profissional do técnico em enfermagem, contribuindo para um cuidado de qualidade, ético e solidário.

Quality of care in the intensive care unit from the perspective of patient's relatives: development and psychometric evaluation of the consumer quality index 'R-ICU'

Background

The quality standards of the Dutch Society of Intensive Care require monitoring of the satisfaction of patient’s relatives with respect to care. Currently, no suitable instrument is available in the Netherlands to measure this. This study describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire-based Consumer Quality Index ‘Relatives in Intensive Care Unit’ (CQI ‘R-ICU’). The CQI ‘R-ICU’ measures the perceived quality of care from the perspective of patients’ relatives, and identifies aspects of care that need improvement.

Methods

The CQI ‘R-ICU’ was developed using a mixed method design. Items were based on quality of care aspects from earlier studies and from focus group interviews with patients’ relatives. The time period for the data collection of the psychometric evaluation was from October 2011 until July 2012. Relatives of adult intensive care patients in one university hospital and five general hospitals in the Netherlands were approached to participate. Psychometric evaluation included item analysis, inter-item analysis, and factor analysis.

Results

Twelve aspects were noted as being indicators of quality of care, and were subsequently selected for the questionnaire’s vocabulary. The response rate of patients’ relatives was 81% (n = 455). Quality of care was represented by two clusters, each showing a high reliability: ‘Communication’ (α = .80) and ‘Participation’ (α = .84). Relatives ranked the following aspects for quality of care as most important: no conflicting information, information from doctors and nurses is comprehensive, and health professionals take patients’ relatives seriously. The least important care aspects were: need for contact with peers, nuisance, and contact with a spiritual counsellor. Aspects that needed the most urgent improvement (highest quality improvement scores) were: information about how relatives can contribute to the care of the patient, information about the use of meal-facilities in the hospital, and involvement in decision-making on the medical treatment of the patient.

Conclusions

The CQI ‘R-ICU’ evaluates quality of care from the perspective of relatives of intensive care patients and provides practical information for quality assurance and improvement programs. The development and psychometric evaluation of the CQI ‘R-ICU’ led to a draft questionnaire, sufficient to justify further research into the reliability, validity, and the discriminative power of the questionnaire.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1975-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.