An intervention to improve communication between clinicians in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and family members of a dying patient significantly reduces feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression in the family members, according to a study that appears in the February 1, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, funded in part by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), showed that this intervention also allows family members to express their emotions and arrive at a more realistic expectation of the outcome.

The researchers evaluated a set of communication guidelines for family conferences between ICU clinicians and family members. Based on earlier, extensive end-of-life research conducted by one of the collaborating researchers, Dr. J. Randall Curtis of the University of Washington, and funded by NINR, the guidelines followed the mnemonic VALUE: to Value what the family members said, Acknowledge their emotions, Listen, Understand the patient as a person through asking questions, and Elicit questions from the family members.

?Communication in these difficult situations is vital to all involved, including the patients, the family members, and the ICU physicians and nurses,? said Dr. Patricia Grady, the Director of NINR. ?This research furthers our understanding of how clinicians can work with family members in the decision-making process and help them cope with the impending loss of a critically ill loved one.?

?I think this is a remarkable moment in end-of-life care,? said Dr. Curtis, ?because [this study] shows that improving communication about end-of-life care in the ICU results in a dramatic reduction in symptoms? related to post-traumatic stress disorder in family members up to 3 months later.

Families of a patient near death in the ICU are often under great stress, and they rely on clinicians for information and support. A family conference, bringing together the family and the involved clinicians in a quiet room to discuss the patient?s prognosis and care options, can be an important component of communication. However, the structure and conduct of these conferences has not previously been evaluated.

The study involved the family members of 126 critically ill patients cared for in 22 ICUs. When an ICU physician believed that the death of the patient was likely within a few days, a proactive family conference was called, with the aim of deciding whether life-sustaining measures such as mechanical ventilation should be continued or withdrawn. In half of these cases, the family conference proceeded under the customary ICU practice. In the other half, the physicians conducted the conferences in accordance with the VALUE guidelines. They also provided the families with a brochure on bereavement.