Nursing Interventions to Meet Information Needs of Family Members of Critically ill Patients

Introduction: During the admission and stay of patients in intensive care units, addressing the communication and information needs of family members of critically ill patients is essential. Objective: To integrate the results of nursing intervention research to meet the information needs of family members of patients in intensive care units. Materials and Methods: An integrative research review was conducted in ScienceDirect, PubMed, Virtual Health Library and SciELO databases, using critical care and needs assessment and family as keywords and filtering by full-text articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese published from 2009 to 2019. Results: After the analytical reading of 41 studies, these were classified into 5 main topics: use of information leaflets, educational sessions, phone calls, use of information technology, and family meetings. Conclusions: Nursing interventions used to meet the information needs of family members are diverse, including the use of leaflets and information technology. However, the nursing intervention that responds most to these needs is holding formal meetings with the family. Interventions reported in research results are key tools for nurses to use them depending on the resources available in their workplaces such as family rooms.