Informational needs of families of intensive care unit patients.

Although results of the study are specific to St Michael Hospital's ICU, the implications of those results are not limited to the study site. Families of patients admitted to any critical care unit may experience similar needs as those identified in this study. Intensive care unit nurses need to identify these needs as a first step in the process toward family-centered care. Critical care nurses can view families either as further stressors on their time or as integral components of their nursing plan and valuable resources in the well-being and recovery of their patients. Tailoring interventions to the main concerns of families can allow ICU nurses to maintain their high standards of professional care while helping families cope with critical illness. Using a unit-based quality assurance study, critical care nurses can implement research-based interventions to address the information and emotional needs of families.