Identifying elements of ICU care that families report as important but unsatisfactory: decision-making, control, and ICU atmosphere.

ABSTRACT:

Background

One in fi ve deaths in the United States occurs in the ICU, and many of these deaths are experienced as less than optimal by families of dying people. The current study investigated the relationship between family satisfaction with ICU care and overall ratings of the quality of dying as a means of identifying targets for improving end-of-life experiences for patients and families.

Methods

This multisite cross-sectional study surveyed families of patients who died in the ICU in one of 15 hospitals in western Washington State. Measures included the Family Satisfaction in the ICU (FS-ICU) and the Single-Item Quality of Dying (QOD-1) questionnaires. Associations between FS-ICU items and the QOD-1 were examined using multivariate linear regression controlling for patie

SUBMITTER: Osborn TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3494471 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature