title: Needs of Patients' Family Members in an Intensive Care Unit With Continuous Visitation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although many critical care experts and national organizations support open visitation in intensive care units (ICUs), most ICU visiting policies do not allow unrestricted presence of patients' family members.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe how well the needs of family members were met in an adult neuroscience ICU with a continuous visitation policy and an adjoining private suite for patients' family members.
  
  
  METHODS
  An exploratory, descriptive study design was used to identify the effects of continuous family visitation in the neuroscience ICU on patients' family members and their needs and experiences during their time in the unit. A convenience sample of consenting family members completed a survey of family need items 72 hours after the patient was admitted to the unit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most important needs identified by the 45 family members surveyed were items relating to information about the patient, visiting the patient, being given hope, talking with a doctor each day, and being assured that the best care is being given to the patient. Least important items were related to physical comforts for the family members. The vast majority of family members rated their needs as being met for all of the items in the survey and reported a high level of satisfaction with care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a neuroscience ICU with an open visitation policy and a private suite for patients' family members, family members rated their needs as being met at a high level, unlike in prior studies in units with limitations on family visitation. The rank order of the importance of each need in the survey was similar to rankings in prior studies in a variety of critical care units.
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia. mini.johney.jacob@emoryhealthcare.org.
authors.forename: Mini
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rance-Ashley
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Tera
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Field
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Robbie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Claudette
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Cynthia Horton, Sharon Rance-Ashley, Tera Field, Robbie Patterson, Claudette Johnson, Holly Saunders, Tracy Shelton, and Jessica Miller are staff nurses, Carmen Frobos is a family coordinator, and Mini Jacob is the nurse educator in the neuroscience intensive care unit, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frobos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D016134:Organizational Policy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014789:Visitors to Patients / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*