• Shuba Kumar, Jony Christina, Anna Revathi Jagadish, John Victor Peter, Kurien Thomas, and Thambu David Sudarsanam.
• Samarth, No. 100 Warren Road, Mylapore, Chennai 600004, Tamil Nadu, India.
• Natl Med J India. 2017 May 1; 30 (3): 131-135.

BackgroundAdmission of a patient to an intensive care unit (ICU) can result in tremendous stress to family caregivers not only because of the need to provide physical and emotional support to the sick relative, but also due to the burden of decision-making on behalf of the critically ill person. We enquired about family caregivers' perspectives on intensive care, the challenges they faced with decision-making and their perceptions on the nature of their interactions with healthcare providers.MethodsWe used maximum variation sampling and enrolled 20 consenting caregivers for semi-structured interviews. Each interview, based on an interview guide, took 30-40 minutes and was conducted in a private place within the hospital premises. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and entered into a qualitative software (NVivo) for analysis.ResultsThe three emergent themes of analysis were (i) understanding about ICU, (ii) decision-making concerning ongoing treatment; and (iii) relationship with healthcare-providers. Some respondents saw the intensive care as an expensive facility for seriously ill patients while others were not so clear. The family's relationship with the patient and their financial status were seen as important deciding factors in continuing treatment. Decision-making was a complex and emotional issue and doctors were held in awe and seen as the main deciding authority. The importance of doctors being compassionate and communicative was stressed.ConclusionOur study highlights the problems faced by family caregivers and of the need to improve their satisfaction through clear and simple communication strategies.

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