Partners in critical care

Patient- and family-centred care (PFCC) concepts are increasingly cited in the critical care literature and are a welcome addition to the vernacular of the intensive care unit (ICU). The implementation and maintenance of a supportive PFCC environment is challenging, however, and usual strategies for knowledge translation using guidelines and policies, no matter how articulate, have not yet resulted in sustained practice change at the point of care delivery. In this article, co-authored by community partners, the physician director and nurse leader of one tertiary care ICU, we describe an initiative in which patient and family representatives were included in the ICU interdisciplinary team membership. After two years and now, at the conclusion of the assignment, options for community partner participation in various activities related to unit governance are shared.