Family Presence Case Study

Background

Since the introduction of critical care units in the 1960s, family presence has been dictated by restricted visitation policies, in which families are limited to when they can visit their loved ones.6 In the pursuit of excellent patient care, many critical care units are transitioning towards a PFCC model.4-8 Within the PFCC model the role of family presences on patient outcomes is recognized as an important element of the care process.1,4-8 Patients admitted to the critical care unit are often in a vulnerable state of health and require family members to communicate pertinent health-related information to the healthcare team and participate in life-altering decision-making. If this interaction is interrupted patient safety may become

Furthermore, restricted family presence contradicts the key premises of

A literature search was conducted using the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar online databases. Search terms included: “open visitation,” “open visitation AND critical care,” “critical care visitation,” “patient-centered care AND visitation AND critical care,” “family AND visitation,” and “restrictive visitation.” The search was limited to English, peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2015. Commentaries and editorials were