• C Padilla-Fortunatti, N Rojas-Silva, M Amthauer-Rojas, and Y Molina-Muñoz.
• Escuela de Enfermería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Unidad de Paciente Crítico, Hospital Clínico Red de Salud UC-CHRISTUS, Santiago, Chile.
• Enferm Intensiva. 2018 Jan 1; 29 (1): 32-40.

ObjectiveTo identify the importance of the needs of family members of patients in an intensive care unit (ICU).MethodDescriptive, comparative and cross-sectional study based on a secondary data analysis of 251 relatives of ICU patients at a university hospital in Santiago, Chile. Using non-random sampling, the 'Critical Care Family Needs Inventory' was used to establish the family needs, as well as a sociodemographic questionnaire that included: age, gender, educational level, patient relationship and previous ICU experience. A descriptive statistical analysis, Student's T test and ANOVA were performed.ResultsThe most important family needs related to the dimensions of 'security' (mean=3.90) and 'information' (mean=3.76), while those of minor importance with 'support' (mean=3.09). In the latter, differences were observed at an older age (P<.05), an educational level (P<.001) and relationship with the patient (P<.05).ConclusionsThe most relevant needs for family members in the ICU are related to safety and information. Less important needs are influenced by certain sociodemographic variables. Identifying the degree of importance of family needs will allow the health team to improve its relationship with families in ICUs.Copyright © 2017 Sociedad Española de Enfermería Intensiva y Unidades Coronarias (SEEIUC). Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

26 keywords...

hide…