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

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.