Abstract
Background
The experiences and satisfaction of family members of patients are important indicators of healthcare quality in the intensive care unit. The family satisfaction in the intensive care unit (FS-ICU-24) questionnaire, developed in Canada and now validated in the UK, is becoming the gold standard measure to evaluate family members’ satisfaction with the intensive care unit. To inform future use of the UK FS-ICU-24 to evaluate quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the intensive care unit, we set out to explore the extent to which the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24 reflect common suggestions and priorities for quality improvement self-reported as important to family members in the UK.
Methods
Two data sources were thematically analysed – (1) open-text responses from family members who completed the UK FS-ICU-24 in a large observational cohort study; (2) a set of quality improvement activities generated by patients, family members and staff through experience-based co-design in a mixed-methods’ intensive care unit quality improvement study. Summarised themes were then mapped to the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24 to assess coverage by the UK FS-ICU-24.
Results
We found a good degree of coverage between the topics and themes identified as important to family members with the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24.
Conclusion
Our study confirms the face validity of the UK FS-ICU-24 and indicates that its inclusion as an outcome measure for evaluating quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the intensive care unit is appropriate.
The experiences and satisfaction of family members of patients are important indicators of healthcare quality in the intensive care unit. The family satisfaction in the intensive care unit (FS-ICU-24) questionnaire, developed in Canada and now validated in the UK, is becoming the gold standard measure to evaluate family members’ satisfaction with the intensive care unit. To inform future use of the UK FS-ICU-24 to evaluate quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the intensive care unit, we set out to explore the extent to which the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24 reflect common suggestions and priorities for quality improvement self-reported as important to family members in the UK.
Methods
Two data sources were thematically analysed – (1) open-text responses from family members who completed the UK FS-ICU-24 in a large observational cohort study; (2) a set of quality improvement activities generated by patients, family members and staff through experience-based co-design in a mixed-methods’ intensive care unit quality improvement study. Summarised themes were then mapped to the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24 to assess coverage by the UK FS-ICU-24.
Results
We found a good degree of coverage between the topics and themes identified as important to family members with the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24.
Conclusion
Our study confirms the face validity of the UK FS-ICU-24 and indicates that its inclusion as an outcome measure for evaluating quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the intensive care unit is appropriate.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of the Intensive Care Society |
| Early online date | 11 Nov 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 11 Nov 2019 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsWe thank the participants in the FREE and EBCD studies who gave their time to participate. We also thank Professor David Harrison for extracting the open-text comments from the FREE study database.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The FREE Study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme (11/2003/56). The EBCD study was funded by the NIHR HS&DR Programme (10/1009/14). The funder had no involvement in study design; in collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of this paper; or in the decision to submit the article for publication. LH is supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). LL was employed by the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford and supported by the NIHR Oxford BRC during the period the work was conducted. BC is funded by an NIHR Clinical Trials Fellowship (CTF-2017-06-016). The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR, NHS or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Keywords
- family satisfaction
- quality improvement
- UK FS-ICU-24
- qualitative research