Need satisfaction levels of family members of critical care patients and accuracy of nurses' perceptions.

The purpose of this research was to gather information about the level of need satisfaction as perceived by family members and the extent to which critical care nurses are able to accurately identify those areas of high and low family member satisfaction. A descriptive-comparative study was completed. Participants were 92 critical care nurses and 52 family members of patients in the critical care units of two large general hospitals. Family members reported being more satisfied than dissatisfied for 43 of the 46 needs. They were relatively well satisfied with those needs that pertained to personal support systems, visitation, and information. They were less satisfied with those that related to psychologic aspects, the environment, and institutional support services. Critical care nurses were moderately accurate at identifying the extent to which family members perceive their needs as being met. However, numerous items were identified for which marked disagreement was found.