Meeting needs of family members of critically ill patients in a Spanish intensive care unit.

A descriptive study was carried out to ascertain how well the needs identified by relatives of patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) were met and what measures could be implemented to improve the care for patients' family members. Eighty-five relatives of patients were studied using a needs questionnaire as developed by Molter (1979) and modified in accordance with our setting, with needs classified into four groups: information, confidence, comfort of the ICU environment and emotional support. Family members were asked to identify their needs and then to score how well each had been met on a 5-point Likert scale. Results showed that the most frequently identified needs were related to information and confidence. Overall, 94% of the needs of all groups were found to be adequately met. Those needs which relatives felt were least well met were related to certain aspects of information and the comfort of the ICU environment. The conclusions based on the results are that more than one channel of communication should be used to transmit the desired information, and that hospital managements should be informed of the importance that back-up services (waiting rooms, restaurants, etc.) have for the relatives of patients.