Family Support Intervention in Intensive Care Units (The Four Supports Study)

One in four elderly Americans die in or shortly after discharge from an intensive care unit. An expanding body of literature documents that physician-family communication and end-of-life care is poor in intensive care units. These deficiencies are associated with high rates of adverse psychological outcomes among surrogates, physician-family conflict, and life support decisions that may be inconsistent with patients' goals and preferences. There is a lack on information on practical, generalizable interventions that effectively improve this important aspect of care for elderly patients and their families.

The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted communication intervention to improve psychological outcomes among family members of critically ill patients, using a randomized, controlled trial design.

Inclusion criteria

for ICU Patients:

• must be unable to make treatment decisions for him/herself, as determined by the patient's physicians.
• must have have either an APACHE II score of ≥ 25 or, for patients with a primary neurologic diagnosis (e.g. intracranial hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, or subarachnoid hemorrhage), physician estimate that the patient has at least a 50% risk of long term, severe functional impairment
• must be 50 years old or greater.

Exclusion criteria

for ICU Patients:

• Patients who do not have surrogates or at least one family member who is willing to participate in the study.
• Patients awaiting organ transplantation.