Rounding Summaries for Families of Critically Ill Patients

Acute Respiratory Failure Clinical Trial

Official title: Rounding Summaries for Families of Critically Ill Patients

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Many patients in intensive care units (ICUs) rely on family members or surrogates to make medical decisions on their behalf. One of the recommended ways to improve a surrogate's experience is to invite him or her to participate in daily, multidisciplinary ICU rounds. In practice, this is often a challenging way for clinicians to engage with the patient's surrogates.

Surrogates of non-decisional ICU patients will be randomized to receive a written rounding summary every day or every other day that the patient is in the ICU. The summary will be organized as follows for each of the most important ICU problems: 1) Description of the problem, 2) Ways the ICU team is addressing the problem i.e. consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. 3) An assessment of whether the problem is improving or worsening.

The investigators hypothesize that surrogates who receive written rounding summaries will be more satisfied with ICU care than surrogates who receive usual care. Satisfaction will be measured by the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI) questionnaire.

Clinical Trial Description

n/a

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Acute Respiratory Failure
• Communication
• Intensive Care Unit Syndrome
• Respiratory Insufficiency

• NCT number: NCT03969810
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Rush University Medical Center
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 1, 2019
• Completion date: February 12, 2021