Patient and family engagement in the ICU: Report from the task force of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine

Purpose: Patient and family engagement plays an important role in the intensive care unit (ICU), however the degree to which practices are being implemented globally is not known.

Materials: To provide insights, a task force of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine conducted a cross-sectional survey.

Results: A total of 345 responses were received from 40 countries. Varying practices with respect to patient and family engagement were reported. Majority of those responding to individual survey questions (n=109, 61.2%) provided written materials on the ICU to family members. Just over half (n=184, 53.8%) of respondents identified that structured patient and family care conferences were held to review goals of care. Practices such as open visitation were reported by 39.6% (n=136), and family presence during resuscitation were reported to be fully (12%, n=41) or somewhat adopted (33%, n=113) by less than half of respondents. ICU diaries, music or pet therapy, or the use of a patient and family advisory group were reported by less than half of respondents.

Conclusions: We document and hence provide successful implementation techniques, tactics, and strategies that could help clinicians to address barriers to implementing patient and family engagement in the ICU.