Intensive care unit family needs: Nurses' and families' perceptions

The aim of this study was to compare intensive care nurses and patients’ relatives’ perceptions about intensive care family needs in Turkey. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design. The Turkish version of Critical Care Family Needs Inventory was used to investigate the family members’ needs of a convenience sample of 70 family members of intensive care unit patients and the perceptions of the 70 intensive care unit nurses about these needs. The Critical Care Family Needs Inventory rankings of the two groups were similar. Eight of the ten most highly ranked needs were the same but the order was different. The most important need was “to be assured that the best care possible is being given to the patient” for relatives and “to receive information about the patient once a day” for nurses. There were statically significant differences in family members’ needs and nurses’ perceptions of these needs.