Families in the Intensive Care Unit - A Guide to Understanding, Engaging, and Supporting at the Bedside

This first edition of this text was the first book to comprehensively survey the challenges in understanding and working with families whose loved ones are critically ill. The comprehensive nature of that book served as a state-of-the-art reference in this sphere for a broad spectrum of researchers and clinicians. All chapters were authored by established experts in the respective fields, providing an overview that has been used both in theory and practice.
Since the first edition's publication, the public recognition of the importance of families has increased dramatically as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most major decisions in the intensive care unit (ICU) are shared by clinicians and someone other than the patient. Improving communication between clinicians and these surrogate decision-makers has proven hard in multiple clinical trials. Families suffer, too, when their loved ones are critically ill. Anxiety,stress, and depression are common, and post-traumatic stress disorder may occur while their loved ones are still in the ICU. Families struggle to understand prognoses, and conflicts with the care team occur frequently. These conflicts not only injure families but also contribute to health care provider burnout. Now in its fully revised and expanded second edition, Families in the Intensive Care Unit reflects lessons learned during the COVID pandemic response, as well as knowledge gained about family support when families cannot be at the bedside.
The chapter subjects again reflect a combination of breadth and depth. Physical and psychological morbidity are explored as barriers to effective decision-making, as are cognitive challenges. The full array of the interdisciplinary and interprofessional team is represented, emphasizing the multimodal approach. This edition includes administrative considerations for health care management and approaches for training members of the health care team. Similarly, family voices are also represented. The complete trajectory of needs of care are addressed, including survivorship and end-of-life care.

List of contents

Introductory Chapter Lessons learned from the Pandemic.- Voices from the Intensive Care Unit Families and Clinicians.- Family Centered Communication in the ICU During the SARS CoV 2 Pandemic.- Strategies to Facilitate Communication with Families in the ICU.- Intensive Care Unit Conflicts and the Family.- Family Role in Patient Safety in the Intensive Care Unit.- Personalized Interventions to Support Families in the Intensive Care Unit.- Training Providers in Family Centered Care.- Cognitive Barriers to Effective Surrogate Decision Making.- Sleep and Sleep Deprivation Among Families in the ICU.- Management of Family ICU Syndrome Improving Outcomes in the ICU.- End of Life Care for ICU Patients.- Family Support and ICU Survivorship Lessons Learned from the Pediatric Critical Care Experience.- Child Life in the Adult ICU Including the Youngest Members of the Family.- Family Engagement in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit NICU.- Family Centered Care in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.- Supporting families of patients in neuroscience intensive care units.- The Integrative Approach to Supporting Families in the ICU.- The Role of Ethics Consultation in Enhancing Family Centered Care.- The Role of the Pharmacist in Family Engagement in the Intensive Care Unit and During Transitions of Care.- Engaging Families in Rehabilitation for the Critically Ill.- Animal Assisted interactions in the ICU.- How to Study the Family ICU Syndrome A Basic Approach to Research Methodology.

About the author

Ashlee Vance
Henry Ford Health System
Health Policy and Health Services
Detroit, USA
 
Deena Costa
Yale University School of Nursing
New Haven, USA
 
Giora Netzer
University of Maryland Medical System
Baltimore, USA
 
Dr. Ashlee Vance’s focus has been parental wellbeing and infant health and developmental outcomes during and after intensive care, specifically focusing on those with medically complex conditions. Dr. Vance conducts research in health services, health equity and economic outcomes associated with having a medically complex infant. Additionally, she concentrates on work to align healthcare system practices with family-focused values to increase parent engagement and self-efficacy in caring for vulnerable infants during and after NICU hospitalization. She has worked as a bedside nurse in many Level 4 and regional NICUs across the US and continues to consult with neonatal providers in the areas of parent engagement, care coordination, discharge preparedness and dismantling of racism in care practices.
Deena Kelly Costa PhD, RN, FAAN is a trained health services researcher with clinical expertise in adult critical care nursing. Her research examines the dynamics of ICU interprofessional teams and how team dynamics impact the implementation of evidence-based care in the ICU. Notably, her research has focused on if, how and in what ways patients and families are included as part of the ICU team. She uses qualitative and quantitative methods to explore ICU teams and patient and family engagement. Her work care has been published in leading journals such as JAMA, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and Chest. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan and Co-Director of the National Clinican Scholar’s Program at UM in the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.
Giora Netzer, MD, MSCE is a critical care physician, clinical epidemiologist, and patient experience leader. Throughout his career, he was worked to better support patients and families through the trajectories of illness and care. His research seeks to better understand morbidity among family members in the ICU and its potential effect on decision-making; as well as better understanding long-term trajectories among survivors of critical illness and their families. Dr. Netzer has published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature, and has co-authored international guidelines for the support of families in the ICU. He continues to attend in the ICU while spearheading organizational efforts to improve patient- and family-centric care.

Summary

Product details

• Assisted by: Deena Costa (Editor), Deena Kelly Costa (Editor), Deena Kelly Costa (Editor), Giora Netzer (Editor), Ashlee Vance (Editor), Ashlee J. Vance (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 25.05.2025
• EAN: 9783031837852
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3183785-2
• No. of pages: 357
• Illustrations: XIV, 357 p. 33 illus., 21 illus. in color.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Clinical medicine; Intensive Care Medicine, End of life care, decision aids, physical morbidity, psychological morbidity, pediatric ICU