Famirea-FCS
Trial question
What is the role of nurse facilitator support for family members of ICU patients?
Study design
Multi-center
Open label
RCT
Population
Characteristics of study participants
72.0% female
28.0% male
N = 385
385 patients (279 female, 106 male).
Inclusion criteria: adult patients with expected ICU length of stay > 2 days, chronic life-limiting illness, and their family members.
Key exclusion criteria: pregnancy or lactation; no social security coverage family member.
Interventions
N=196 nurse facilitator support (standard communication by ICU clinicians with additional communication and support by nurse facilitators).
N=189 no nurse facilitator support (standard communication by ICU clinicians without nurse facilitator support).
Primary outcome
Median Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression score at 6 months
3 points
3 points
3.0 points
2.3 points
1.5 points
0.8 points
0.0 points
Nurse facilitator
support
No nurse facilitator
support
No significant
difference ↔
No significant difference in median Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression score at 6 months (3 points vs. 3 points; AD 0.53 points, 95% CI -0.48 to 1.55).
Secondary outcomes
No significant difference in median Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale score at 6 months (8 points vs. 9 points; AD 0.42 points, 95% CI -1.51 to 2.35).
No significant difference in median Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety score at 6 months (5 points vs. 5 points; AD -0.11 points, 95% CI -1.23 to 1.01).
No significant difference in median Impact of Event Scale-6 score at 6 months (3 points vs. 3 points; AD -0.33 points, 95% CI -1.53 to 0.88).
Conclusion
In adult patients with expected ICU length of stay > 2 days, chronic life-limiting illness, and their family members, nurse facilitator support was not superior to no nurse facilitator support with respect to median Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression score at 6 months.
Reference
Nancy Kentish-Barnes, Elie Azoulay, Jean Reignier et al. A randomised controlled trial of a nurse facilitator to promote communication for family members of critically ill patients. N Engl J Med. 2024 May 30;390(20):1849-1861.
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