"Impacts of the Letter of Condolence to the Bereaved Families Experience After a Death in ICU " - Study Famirea 22

After the death of a patient in the hyper-technical context of intensive care, his relatives are particularly vulnerable and often exhibit symptoms of anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress and complicated grief. The first results of a qualitative study Famiréa current (CAESAR) support the idea that the bereaved relatives suffer from persistent misunderstandings and a feeling of abandonment of the resuscitation team. Many families suggest the need for contact with the team after the patient's death. The letter of condolence received by some families allowed them to feel recognized in their pain resuscitation teams. This has led us to ask the question of post-death monitoring and interest to send to bereaved relatives a letter of condolence, as recommended by the American consensus conference in 2004 on good palliative care. This strategy would allow the recognition of both close to the pain but also the strong bond that united the resuscitation team. The hypothesis of the study is that the post-death followed in the form of a letter of condolence sent by the intensive care physician who was in charge of the patient, could reduce the risk of having symptoms of anxiety / depression and post-traumatic stress and reduce the rate of complicated grief.

Famirea 22 is randomized clinical trial aimin to compare two bereaved groups: one group who did not receive a letter of condolence and a group that received a letter of condolence 15 days after the death.