Authors (including presenting author) :
Mak YM (1), Koo WK (1), Ngai HY (1), Chan JS (1), Sze HY (1), Ho YC (1), Wong KW (1), Lau SY (1), Wong CY (1), Yiu MC (1), Lam, SM (1), Shum HP (1), Kwan YF (1), Lo WP (1), Lee CH (1), Li SC (1)
Affiliation :
Department of Intensive Care, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Introduction :
Covid-19 pandemic has been prevailing for the last year. To prevent viral spread, family visiting is now restricted under Hospital Authority. It poses emotional stress to the family, especially for the critically ill. Compassionate visits are only granted for the special occasions. Effective communication improves family satisfaction, clinical decision-making, and psychological well-being of family members. To balance the need of infection control and soothing the stress of the family, our unit has launched the nurse initiated phone contact and video calls since November, 2020.
Objectives :
To update family about patients’ conditions by Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses and allow family to ‘visit’ the sick through video calls to relieve family stress and enhance the family-patient-health care workers’ relationship.
Methodology :
One-week briefing was given to frontline nurses on October, 2020. The program was started since November. On ICU admission day one to four, nurse initiated phone contact to families to update patients’ condition. Video call could be provided so family could pay virtual visits. After day four, the above measures would be conducted on alternative days. Randomized asking the families for satisfaction of phone update by using five-point Likert-scale. Continuous variables are presented as median [interquartile range].
Result & Outcome :
In Nov, 2020, there were total 127 patients (76 males). The median age was 68 [56-77]. The median of the length of stay was 2 [2-4]. 36% of patients had sedation and 30% of patients used inotropes. The compliance rate of completing daily phone call on the first four days was 94%. Compliance rate for every two days’ phone call was 84%. Video call was arranged in 42.5%. Total 31 families were evaluated with the median score 4, which indicate high satisfaction.
In conclusion, scheduled nurse initiated phone contact and video calls facilitate communication between health care providers and families of critically ill patients. Effective communication improves family satisfaction and clinical decision-making. We plan to carry out more studies to explore any challenges faced using video call.
