Perception of the importance of the needs of the patient´s relatives in an ICU

Abstract

Introduction. The family of a patient hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), undergoes a particular set of needs, to determine their importance and strategies to satisfy them could improve outcomes for patients and their families. The objective is identifying the perception of the importance and satisfaction of the needs of the patient´s relatives in an intensive care unit. Material and Method. Descriptive study where it was applied the validated instrument in Chile, Critical Care Family Needs Inventory to 37 relatives in an academic hospital. This instrument measures 5 dimensions associated with the needs of the patient´s relatives hospitalized in an ICU. It has a Cronbach Alpha of 0.93. Descriptive statistic, Mann – Whitney and Kruskal Wallis test were realized. Results. The most important needs perceived by family members belonged to the dimension “security” and less important to the dimension “support”. The dimension more satisied was “security” and less satisied “comfort”. In the dimensions “support” and “proximity” diferences were found in the priorization of needs according to gender. Conclusion. The priorization of family needs is coincident with the analyzed literature.