None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Twenty-two French ICUs published in 2017 found worse outcomes in bereaved relatives that received a condolence letter compared to no follow up. By comparing three communication strategies: a condolence letter, a telephone call and no contact, our pilot study aims to determine which of these interventions administered four weeks after death is associated with the lowest rate of anxiety, depression, complicated grief and PTSD when assessed at six months.
Interventions
The legal representative of a patient who has recently died while receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit will receive one of three interventions as part of a bereavement follow up:
Group A is the control group (please see below).
Group B will receive a short, semi-structured telephone call from a Clinical Nurse Consultant (senior Intensive Care Nurse) four weeks following the death.
The telephone call is expected to last less than 5 minutes in duration and will have 2 objectives:
i/ E
The legal representative of a patient who has recently died while receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit will receive one of three interventions as part of a bereavement follow up: Group A is the control group (please see below). Group B will receive a short, semi-structured telephone call from a Clinical Nurse Consultant (senior Intensive Care Nurse) four weeks following the death. The telephone call is expected to last less than 5 minutes in duration and will have 2 objectives: i/ Expression of condolences. ii/ Offer of further telephone call or in-person meeting with a representative from the Intensive Care Unit. Group C will not receive any communication from the Intensive Care Unit following the death.
Sponsors
Melbourne Health
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Intensive Care Unit Patient Criteria: i/ Aged greater than 18 years of age ii/ Non-pregnant iii/ Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit as a patient for greater than 24 hours Legal Representative of Patient Criteria: i/ Legal representative of patient ii/ Aged greater than 18 years of age iii/ Visited patient on one or more occasions during their Intensive Care Unit stay iv/ Attended one or more Intensive Care Unit family meetings
Exclusion criteria
Legal Representative of Patient: - Has limited understanding of English. - Has multiple relatives admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. - Is expected not to be contactable by phone or mail at 6 months follow up.
Outcome results
None listed