Promoting Family Satisfaction & Engagement: Implementing Interventions in the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit

Healthcare systems have begun moving towards a patient-centered care approach to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes. However, this model runs into some difficulties when it comes to the intensive care unit (ICU), as critically ill patients are often unable to communicate their wishes or level of satisfaction. This is especially true for patients in neuroscience ICUs (NSICU), who oftentimes don’t recall much of their stay due to the nature of acute brain injuries. Therefore, family members often have to serve as surrogate decision-makers and spend a significant amount of time in the unit. This experience can be very stressful and traumatizing to the family members who sometimes develop PTSD-like symptoms, known as post-intensive care syndrome-family. This study aims to increase family satisfaction and engagement at an NSICU. A control will be established by surveying families using the FS-ICU 24R survey, then a number of initiatives will be designed and implemented in the unit aimed at improving the reported deficits. The survey will be repeated to verify whether the initiatives were successful in improving the family experience. Increasing our understanding of family members’ satisfaction of care and moving towards a patient- and family-centered care model could improve the overall quality of care in the NSICU