title: A follow-up meeting post death is appreciated by family members of deceased patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A practice with a follow-up meeting post death (FUMPD) with physician and staff for family members of patients who died in the intensive care unit (ICU) was started as a quality project to improve the support of families in post-ICU bereavement. A quality improvement control was conducted after 4 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  The quality improvement control was made retrospectively as an anonymous non-coded questionnaire. Part A related to the FUMPD. Part B inquired if we could contact the family member again for a research project to evaluate family support post-ICU bereavement. The questionnaires were sent to 84 family members of 56 deceased patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Part A: 46 out of 84 family members answered and had attended a FUMPD. Ninety-one percent of the family members thought that we should continue to offer FUMPD. Seventy-eight percent were satisfied with their meeting. Eighty percent felt that they understood the cause of death. The majority wanted the meeting to take place within 6 weeks of death. Ninety-one percent rated the physician as important to be present at the meeting. The social worker was rated more important to attend the meeting than the assistant nurse. Ninety-one percent wanted to discuss the cause of death.Part B: 54 out of 84 family members answered. Twenty out of 54 did not want us to contact them again.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A routine with a Follow-Up Meeting Post Death with the ICU team for the families of the patients who die in the ICU is appreciated. The presence of the physician is important.
authors: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Kock
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Berntsson
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Bengtsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001601:Bereavement; D002423:Cause of Death; D003643:Death; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses; D009728:Nursing Assistants; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010820:Physicians; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012947:Social Work; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden