Families in the Intensive Care Unit. A Guide to Understanding, Engaging, and Supporting at the Bedside

This first edition of this text was the first book to comprehensively survey the challenges in understanding and working with families whose loved ones are critically ill. The comprehensive nature of that book served as a state-of-the-art reference in this sphere for a broad spectrum of researchers and clinicians. All chapters were authored by established experts in the respective fields, providing an overview that has been used both in theory and practice.

Since the first edition’s publication, the public recognition of the importance of families has increased dramatically as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most major decisions in the intensive care unit (ICU) are shared by clinicians and someone other than the patient. Improving communication between clinicians and these surrogate decision-makers has proven hard in multiple clinical trials. Families suffer, too, when their loved ones are critically ill. Anxiety,stress, and depression are common, and post-traumatic stress disorder may occur while their loved ones are still in the ICU. Families struggle to understand prognoses, and conflicts with the care team occur frequently. These conflicts not only injure families but also contribute to health care provider burnout. Now in its fully revised and expanded second edition, Families in the Intensive Care Unit reflects lessons learned during the COVID pandemic response, as well as knowledge gained about family support when families cannot be at the bedside.

The chapter subjects again reflect a combination of breadth and depth. Physical and psychological morbidity are explored as barriers to effective decision-making, as are cognitive challenges. The full array of the interdisciplinary and interprofessional team is represented, emphasizing the multimodal approach. This edition includes administrative considerations for health care management and approaches for training members of the health care team. Similarly, family voices are also represented. The complete trajectory of needs of care are addressed, including survivorship and end-of-life care.