Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units

Intensive care units present some of medicine's most acute decision points, and growing evidence suggests that how families are included in that environment directly shapes patient outcomes, family wellbeing, and the quality of care itself. Researchers in this area examine how visiting policies, nursing communication, and structured family presence protocols affect everything from patient anxiety to the dynamics of resuscitation decisions. A central tension remains between clinical workflow demands and the push toward genuinely open, patient-centered access—particularly when critically ill patients cannot advocate for themselves. Active work is now focused on developing nursing interventions that translate family-centered principles into consistent practice across units with widely varying cultures and resource constraints.

Works

53,044

Total citations

330,797

Keywords

Family PresencePatient-Centered CareIntensive Care UnitFamily NeedsCritical CareVisiting Policies