ISSN 2394-7330 International Journal of Novel Research in Healthcare and Nursing Vol. 6, Issue 2, pp: (1099-1110), Month: May - August 2019, Available at: www.noveltyjournals.com Page | 1099 Novelty Journals Perception of ICU Nurses toward Family Engagement in Patients' Care Mona Saad Abd El Wareth 1, 2 , Nermine M. Elcokany 1, 3 1 Lecturer of Critical Care & Emergency Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University. Egypt. 2 Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University, KSA. 3 Assistant Professor, College of Applied Medical sciences, King Faisal University, KSA Corresponding Author: Nermine M. Elcokany, E-mail: nelcokany@kfu.edu.sa Abstract: Family engagement means active partnerships between health care providers' families. Family engagement in ICU takes different forms depending on the needs of critically ill patients. Families could be engaged in the tangible and the intangible aspects of critically ill patients' care. Family engagement can improve patients' outcomes, reduce family anxiety and enhance family members' satisfaction in addition to reducing patient's stress and anxiety, lowering delirium prevalence, reducing length of hospital stay, enhancing patients' satisfaction and experience with care. Many research studies focus on the intangible aspect of family participation in patient care. There is a remarkably little research that investigate family members' contribution to care in the ICU. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine perception of ICU nurses toward family engagement in patients' care. Methods: a cross-sectional, descriptive research design was used in this study in which one instrument was used to assess the perception of ICU nurses toward family engagement in patients' care. The subjects were comprised of all ICU nurses who had previous experience for at least one year from 8 ICUs in 2 selected university hospitals. Results: patients' hygiene is the top reported aspect of engagement followed by oral feeding, distraction activities and assisting with ambulation. These are reported respectively by 62.05%, 60.33%, 56.89%, and 49.13% of the studied nurses in all ICUs. The least reported aspect of family engagement in all ICUs (2.58%) is the oral care. Conclusion: Families are involved in the tangible and the intangible aspects of patients care in ICUs but they are involved more in the intangible aspects of patients care. Recommendations: There is a need to establish polices, procedure, and protocols for family engagement in ICUs. An assessment tool to determine family willingness to be actively participating in their patients' care and the aspects of care they can be engaged in should be available. Keywords: ICU patient's family – ICU nurses – Family engagement – Family-centered care- ICU liberation. 1. INTRODUCTION In the past, present and even in the future, intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide continuously adopt critical care nursing practices to achieve the optimal level of comfort and safety for critically ill patients. The American association of critical care nurses, (2015) updated its scope and standards for critical nursing practice to include a patient- and family-centered healthcare system [1] . From ICU admission till discharge, critically ill patients and their families confront multiple challenges and stressors. The ICU is a complex clinical setting, where the focus is on the physical needs of patients with less attention given to their family requirements. Clinical and technical proficiencies are viewed as essential components for nurses working in the ICU. Psychological needs fulfillment has a low priority in comparison to the physical needs of the patients. Critically ill patients' family always feels helpless due to inadequate knowledge about the illness, prognosis and outcomes [2] .