Lack Of Communication Is Frequent In ICU And End-of-Life Care

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 29 Oct 2006 - 17:00 PDT

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A new study shows families of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are not satisfied with the amount or kind of communication they receive from health-care providers. Researchers from Harvard Medical School administered 25 open-ended questions to 50 ICU patient families. Qualitative analysis revealed an overall 40 percent communication failure rate between the families and the health-care team. Only 35 percent of families were satisfied with the information about the current status of their loved one. In a similar study, researchers interviewed family members of patients who died in the ICU. While 54 percent of family member comments were classified as positive regarding the ICU dying experience, 71 percent of the comments showed a poor experience when related to communication. Both studies suggest that communication is problematic in the ICU and end-of-life ICU situations.

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CHEST 2006 abstract briefs

Contact: Jennifer Stawarz
American College of Chest Physicians

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