Family members' needs at intensive care units: comparative analysis between a public and a private hospital

Kátia Santana Freitas,Karine Azevedo São Leão Ferreira,Miako Kimura

doi:10.1590/s0104-11692007000100013

Kátia Santana Freitas, Karine Azevedo São Leão Ferreira + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-11692007000100013

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Abstract

This cross-sectional study proposed to analyze the needs of adult ICU patients' family members at a public and a private hospital, regarding their level of importance and satisfaction. Ninety-one family members were interviewed, 47 from the public hospital and 44 from the private one, using the Brazilian adaptation of the Critical Care Family Need Inventory (INEFTI). There was no significant difference between the groups in the total score of importance attributed to the needs (p=0.410). The satisfaction score was higher in the private hospital than in the public one (p=0.002). Multiple linear regression analysis allowed us to establish a hierarchy of importance and satisfaction of the family members' needs in each group. The differences observed between the groups suggest that the fulfillment of their needs requires interventions directed at the specificity of each type of hospital.

Highlights

The hospitalization of a family member in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) generally occurs acutely and without previous warning, leaving little time for family adjustment
We studied 91 patients from two public and one private hospital, who displayed similar characteristics in terms of age range, gender, religion, marital situation, previous ICU hospitalization experience, death risk as measured by the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation Classification System II (APACHE II) and condition to leave the ICU
Patients were mostly women (53.8%), catholic (73.6%) and married (52.7%), with an average age of 59.6±19.3 years; 68.1% had been hospitalized in an ICU on a previous occasion; median death risk was 19.6% (10.3%-36.9%) and 79.1% were discharged from the ICU

Summary

Introduction

The hospitalization of a family member in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) generally occurs acutely and without previous warning, leaving little time for family adjustment. In view of this stressful situation, relatives can feel disorganized and helpless and face mobilization difficulties, giving rise to different types of needs. Most studies on relatives of critical patients have concentrated on describing the importance of their needs and the extent to which they are satisfied. Nurses were pioneers in studying this theme. The first study about family needs in the ICU context was published by the North-American nurse Nancy Molter in 1979, and aimed to identify the needs perceived by patients’ relatives. The author elaborated a questionnaire with 45 needs items, scored according to their level of importance [2]

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