American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
-
Moral distress is common among personnel in the intensive care unit, but the consequences of this distress are not well characterized. ⋯ In response to moral distress, health care providers experience negative emotional consequences, patient care is perceived to be negatively affected, and nurses and other health care professionals are prone to consider quitting working in the intensive care unit.
-
Family meetings in the intensive care unit are associated with beneficial outcomes for patients, their families, and health care systems, yet these meetings often do not occur in a timely, effective, reliable way. ⋯ Users were satisfied with the effectiveness and adaptability of a family-meeting quality improvement curriculum to support implementation of a quality improvement project in Veterans Affairs intensive care units. This tool may be useful in facilitating projects to improve the quality of family meetings in other intensive care units.