• Maria Chatzaki, Maria Klimathianaki, Maria Anastasaki, Georgios Chatzakis, Eleni Apostolakou, and Dimitrios Georgopoulos.
• Intensive Care Medicine Department, University Hospital of Heraklion, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
• J Clin Nurs. 2012 Jul 1;21(13-14):1831-9.

AimTo define the needs of intensive care unit patients' families in the specific suburban/rural population of Crete Island.BackgroundFamilies of intensive care unit patients have specific needs that should also be addressed by the intensive care unit-care team. Current research has mostly concentrated on families from an urban setting, therefore may not be applicable to other populations.DesignProspective cohort study.MethodsFamily members of patients admitted in the intensive care unit for ≥ 48 hours over 18 months, in a mixed medical-surgical, 11 bed closed intensive care unit. Questionnaire: The Greek translation of Critical Care Family Need Inventory, which consists of 45 need items covering the information, reassurance, proximity, support and comfort domains. Each item was scored on a four-point scale (1 = very important to 4 = not important). Participants were also asked to single out the most important need from the Critical Care Family Need Inventory and complete a questionnaire on basic demographic characteristics.ResultsTwo hundred and thirty (65%) family members completed the questionnaire. Mean score for each of the 45 items ranged from 1.03-3 (scale from 1: very important-4: not important). Fourteen items were rated by responders as very important (mean score <1.25). Reassurance need items were consistently singled out as most important regardless of the participant's background. Participants with a lower educational and socio-economical status rated support need items as more important than those with a higher status.ConclusionIn this particular suburban/rural population, both 'universal' reassurance needs and specific support needs related to responders' educational or socio-economical background were identified.Relevance To Clinical PracticeEnhanced recognition of these needs may improve quality of care offered by intensive care unit-care team to families of their patients.© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

14 keywords...

hide…