Document Detail


The effect of a family support intervention on family satisfaction, length-of-stay, and cost of care in the intensive care unit.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20228678     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVE: The study examined the effect of adding a full-time family support coordinator to the surgical intensive care unit team on family satisfaction, length-of-stay, and cost in the surgical intensive care unit. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: A quasi-experimental design was conducted in two phases: baseline (8 mos) and intervention (10 mos) phases. Data on family satisfaction, length-of-stay, and costs from both phases were collected. INTERVENTIONS: The intervention added a new role, the family support coordinator, to the surgical intensive care unit team. The family support coordinator functioned as a liaison between the patient's family and the health care team. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The results revealed that generally the intervention was associated with increases in family satisfaction with communication for all surgical intensive care unit team members, with physicians, social workers, and respiratory care therapists showing increases in significance. The largest increase was for physician communication (p = .0034). Families also rated their perceptions of the quality of care provided to their family members by various members of the surgical intensive care unit team. Mean ratings increased for all areas of care, with respiratory and nursing care showing the largest increases. Families' perceptions of the care and treatment they received during the stay of their family member showed increases in all areas of satisfaction between baseline and intervention, particularly those areas most related to the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of the family support coordinator intervention increased family satisfaction across a range of parameters. Although there were decreases in length-of-stay and costs, they were not statistically significant. Further research is needed to determine whether intervention refinement could produce lower length-of-stay and costs.
Authors:
Wayne Shelton; Crystal Dea Moore; Sophia Socaris; Jian Gao; Jane Dowling
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Critical care medicine     Volume:  38     ISSN:  1530-0293     ISO Abbreviation:  Crit. Care Med.     Publication Date:  2010 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-04-21     Completed Date:  2010-05-14     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0355501     Medline TA:  Crit Care Med     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1315-20     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Program on Ethics and Health Outcomes, Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, USA. sheltow@mail.amc.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Aged
Communication
Consumer Satisfaction*
Female
Health Care Costs
Hospital Charges*
Humans
Intensive Care Units / economics*,  organization & administration*
Length of Stay*
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Care Team / organization & administration
Professional-Family Relations*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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