Strategies to improve family member's experiences of end-of-life care in a high care unit

Abstract

Introduction When death of a loved one happens in a hospital setting it can be even more painful as the family is not familiar with the environment. End-of-life care to support the family in the high care unit is vital for long term grieving outcomes. However, healthcare professionals often omit the needs of family members. The experiences of families regarding end-of-life care may be used to identify strategies to improve quality of end-of-life care.

Aim The aim of the study was to identify strategies to improve the end-of-life care experiences of family members in the high care unit.

Objectives The objectives were to: i)explore adult family members’ experiences of end-of-life care in the high care unit, and ii)collaboratively identify strategies that can be implemented by healthcare professionals

Design and methods A qualitative descriptive research design was used to achieve the aim of the study. The study was conducted in one high care unit in a central hospital where approximately 70 patients are managed each month. Family members and/or significant other of patients managed in the high care unit were selected using a purposive sampling method. Ten family members whose loved one received end-of-life care in the high care unit were interviewed. Data was analysed using the collaborative hermeneutic data analysis method to identify strategies to be implemented to improve the family member’s experience of end-of-life care in future.

Findings The following main themes emerged: 1) quality of care 2) compassion 3) support structure and 4) communication. Supporting and involving families in the care of the critically ill family member may improve family satisfaction, reduce complaints and ultimately lead to good death.

Conclusion Understanding the experiences of family members whom their loved ones had been given end-of-life care in the high care unit, expanded the healthcare professionals understanding of the current practices of end-of-life care as experienced by the family members. Collaboratively identifying strategies to improve the family member’s experiences in future contributed to better the experiences of families when the strategies are implemented in practice.

Keywords: Collaborative data analysis; end-of-life care; family experiences, high care unit; healthcare professionals.