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. 2020 Nov;21(4):312-319.
doi: 10.1177/1751143719883563. Epub 2019 Nov 11.

Can the UK 24-item family satisfaction in the intensive care unit questionnaire be used to evaluate quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the ICU? A qualitative study

Susannah Lyes  1 , Alvin Richards-Belle  2 , Bronwen Connolly  2 , Kathryn M Rowan  2 , Lisa Hinton  1   3 , Louise Locock  4
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Can the UK 24-item family satisfaction in the intensive care unit questionnaire be used to evaluate quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the ICU? A qualitative study

Susannah Lyes et al. J Intensive Care Soc. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The experiences and satisfaction of family members of patients are important indicators of healthcare quality in the intensive care unit. The family satisfaction in the intensive care unit (FS-ICU-24) questionnaire, developed in Canada and now validated in the UK, is becoming the gold standard measure to evaluate family members' satisfaction with the intensive care unit. To inform future use of the UK FS-ICU-24 to evaluate quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the intensive care unit, we set out to explore the extent to which the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24 reflect common suggestions and priorities for quality improvement self-reported as important to family members in the UK.

Methods: Two data sources were thematically analysed - (1) open-text responses from family members who completed the UK FS-ICU-24 in a large observational cohort study; (2) a set of quality improvement activities generated by patients, family members and staff through experience-based co-design in a mixed-methods' intensive care unit quality improvement study. Summarised themes were then mapped to the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24 to assess coverage by the UK FS-ICU-24.

Results: We found a good degree of coverage between the topics and themes identified as important to family members with the 24-scored items and domains of the UK FS-ICU-24.

Conclusion: Our study confirms the face validity of the UK FS-ICU-24 and indicates that its inclusion as an outcome measure for evaluating quality improvement strategies aimed at improving family satisfaction with the intensive care unit is appropriate.

Keywords: Family satisfaction; UK FS-ICU-24; qualitative research; quality improvement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Distribution of overall satisfaction score by Group for the 1855 family members. Overall satisfaction score UK FS-ICU-24: Group 1, 0 to <20; Group 2, 20 to <40; Group 3, 40 to <60; Group 4, 60 to <80 and Group 5, 80 to 100.
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