Determination of the anxiety and the needs of family members of critical care patients in emergency departments

Aims: It is very important to find ways to meet the needs of patients' family members and to control their anxiety. This study aims to identify the needs and anxiety levels of family members of critically-ill adult patients in emergency departments (ED). Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the adult ED of a training and research hospital in Turkey. In order to collect data, we conducted face-to-face interviews with family members of critically-ill patients. The “Critical Care Family Needs Inventory-Emergency Department” (CCFNI-ED) and the “Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory-State Scale” (STAI-S) were also used to identify the needs and the anxiety levels of the family members. Results: The average age of the participants was 40.81±13.32 years. Of the participants (n=172), 61.6% (n=106) were female. CCFNI-ED results showed that eight of the ten needs expressed by family members were related to communication. Overall anxiety level of the family members was 49.67%. Additionally, a statistically significant correlation was found between being female and STAI-S scores (t=2.41, p=0.01). 18.6% of family members expressed that their needs were unmet, while 29.1% of the participants stated that their needs were met. Conclusions: This study found no significant correlations between the scores obtained from STAI-S and CCFNI-ED. However, a statistically significant correlation was found between being female and STAI-S scores of relatives. Health professionals should take the higher anxiety levels of female family members into consideration, and they should pay attention to the needs of patients' relatives in order to manage their anxiety. © 2020 the University of Health Sciences Turkey, Gülhane Faculty of Medicine / Gülhane Medical Journal published by Galenos Publishing House. All Rights Reserved