The communication between patient relatives and physicians in intensive care units

Faruk Cicekci, Numan Duran, Bunyamin Ayhan, Sule Arican, Omur Ilban, Iskender Kara, Melda Turkoglu, Fatma Yildirim, Ismail Hasirci, Adnan Karaibrahimoglu, Inci Kara, Faruk Cicekci, Numan Duran, Bunyamin Ayhan, Sule Arican, Omur Ilban, Iskender Kara, Melda Turkoglu, Fatma Yildirim, Ismail Hasirci, Adnan Karaibrahimoglu, Inci Kara

Abstract

Background: Patients in intensive care units (ICUs) are often physically unable to communicate with their physicians. Thus, the sharing of information about the on-going treatment of the patients in ICUs is directly related to the communication attitudes governing a patient's relatives and the physician. This study aims to analyze the attitudes displayed by the relatives of patients and the physician with the purpose of determining the communication between the two parties.

Methods: For data collection, two similar survey forms were created in context of the study; one for the relatives of the patients and one for the ICU physicians. The questionnaire included three sub-dimensions: informing, empathy and trust. The study included 181 patient relatives and 103 ICU physicians from three different cities and six hospitals.

Results: Based on the results of the questionnaire, identification of the mutual expectations and substance of the messages involved in the communication process between the ICU patients' relatives and physicians was made. The gender and various disciplines of the physicians and the time of the conversation with the patients' relatives were found to affect the communication attitude towards the patient. Moreover, the age of the patient's relatives, the level of education, the physician's perception, and the contact frequency with the patient when he/she was healthy were also proven to have an impact on the communication attitude of the physician.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the mutual expectations and substance of messages in the informing, empathy and trust sub-dimensions of the communication process between patient relatives and physicians in the ICU. The communication between patient relatives and physicians can be strengthened through a variety of training programs to improve communication skills.

Keywords: Communication; Intensive care unit; Professional-family relations; Relatives; Surveys and questionnaire.

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by Selcuk University, Medical Faculty Research Ethics Committee, Konya, Turkey, on 31 March 2015 with the number 2015/106, and the written informed consent was obtained from the parents’ relative/the physician.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing of interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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