Crit Care Nurs Q Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 378–387 Copyright c  2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins The Effect of a Family Support Intervention on Physician, Nurse, and Family Perceptions of Care in the Surgical, Neurological, and Medical Intensive Care Units Crystal Dea Moore, PhD; Gary L. Bernardini, MD, PhD; Rachel Hinerman, MD; Karen Sigond, MSN; Jane Dowling, PhD; Deborah Baofeng Wang, PhD; Wayne Shelton, PhD Many patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) have predictable medical and discharge outcomes, but some trajectories are marked with medical uncertainty. Stressed family-surrogates receive multiple medical updates from a variety of personnel. These circumstances can lead to confusion, which may result in conflicts and dissatisfaction with care. This study examined the effects of adding a family support coordinator to the surgical, neurological, and medical ICUs on family, physician, and nurse satisfaction with communication and care. A quasi-experimental design was conducted in 2 sequential phases (baseline and intervention). The data sources were 2 surveys: (1) Family Satisfaction Survey and (2) Nurse and Physician Perception and Satisfaction Survey. Family Satisfaction Survey data, a combined data set, were collected in the 3 ICUs. Nurse and Physician Perception and Satisfaction Survey data were collected from the attending physicians and critical care nurses in the medical and neurological ICUs. Results show that family ratings of satisfaction with ICU team communication and care generally increased as a result of the intervention. Overall, physician and nurse perceptions of communication and care did not change as a result of the intervention. Key words: communication, family support, ICU, satisfaction M ANY PATIENTS in the intensive care unit (ICU) have predictable medical Author Affiliations: Department of Social Work Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs (Dr Moore); Division of Surgical Critical Care Medicine, Albany Medical Center, Albany (Dr Bernardini and Hinerman and Sigond); Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany Medical College, Albany (Dr Shelton), New York; and Wellington Consulting Group, Ltd, Gold Canyon, Arizona (Drs Dowling and Wang). This study was supported by the John Connelly Foun- dation. The authors have disclosed that they have no signif- icant relationships with, or financial interest in, any commercial companies pertaining to this article. and discharge outcomes, but some patients’ trajectories are marked with medical uncer- tainty and no clear sense of hospitalization length. Moreover, there is the possibility that a surrogate will have to make difficult, value- laden decisions during the patient’s length of stay, creating the possibility of 2 or more vi- able medical options, including withdrawing life supports and moving to comfort care only Correspondence: Crystal Dea Moore, PhD, Depart- ment of Social Work, Skidmore College, 815 N Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 (cmoore@ skidmore.edu). DOI: 10.1097/CNQ.0b013e318268fde3 Copyright © 2012 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 378